Overcoming Barriers to Social Needs Care Integration in Pharmacies

Health-related social needs (HRSNs) such as food insecurity, housing instability, and access to utilities have a significant impact on patient health. Community pharmacies are well positioned to help address these needs because of their accessibility, frequent patient touchpoints, and trusted role in local communities. Embedding community health workers (CHWs) within pharmacies has shown promise in enhancing patient engagement and referrals, yet questions remain about sustainability and scalability.

One effective approach is cross-training pharmacy staff as CHWs. Many pharmacists, technicians, clerks, and delivery drivers live in the communities they serve and already understand local challenges. By augmenting their knowledge with communication skills, resource mapping, and referral training, pharmacies can integrate social care into daily workflows. A recent study has shown this model to be effective, financially sustainable, and associated with high referral resolution rates across both urban and rural areas.¹

Time and workload are common challenges. Addressing social needs often requires multiple touchpoints rather than a single encounter. For example, a patient may see a flyer at the pharmacy but not engage right away. Later, a delivery driver trained in CHW skills may notice the patient struggling with medication costs and connect them to available resources. A designated follow-up with a pharmacy-based CHW can then complete screening and referrals. This team-based, staged approach distributes the workload while keeping patients engaged over time.

Ultimately, integrating HRSN services into community pharmacies represents an important pathway to more holistic, equitable care. With appropriate leadership, ongoing training, policy support, and reimbursement mechanisms, pharmacies can play a central role in advancing both individual health outcomes and population health.

Drug Topics® recently sat down with Christopher Daly, PharmD, MBA, BCACP, clinical associate professor at the University at Buffalo, and David Jacobs, PharmD, PhD, associate professor at the University at Buffalo, who were authors on the study, to discuss challenges that pharmacies may face when screening patients for social needs in a busy retail setting, and how might those be addressed.

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References

1. Daly CJ, Iqbal DN, Chen E, et al. Implementing a Community Health Worker Model to Address Health-Related Social Needs in a Community Pharmacy Network: A Pragmatic Evaluation. 2025. J Am Pharm Assoc. DOI:10.1016/j.japh.2025.102490