What the Walgreens ‘Hybrid Pharmacist’ Role is Doing for Workforces Challenges

As burnout and staffing challenges continue to strain pharmacy teams across the country, Walgreens is piloting a new approach that could reshape how pharmacists think about their careers.

The hybrid pharmacist role—believed to be one of the first of its kind in the industry—allows pharmacists to split their time between traditional community pharmacy settings and centralized services, offering a new blend of patient care, clinical work, and work-life flexibility.

“We developed this based off of feedback from our pharmacists, really to address a couple of things—expectations that our pharmacists have, as well as it potentially being a way to help us with some of our staffing shortages as well,” Rick Gates, chief pharmacy officer at Walgreens and chairman of the board at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, told Drug Topics.

Currently live in 6 states—Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—the pilot has already drawn overwhelmingly positive responses from participating pharmacists.

In this episode of the Over the Counter podcast, Gates breaks down how the role works in practice, who it is best suited for, and how it fits into Walgreens’ broader push to modernize pharmacy operations through things like micro-fulfillment centers and centralized services. Beyond Walgreens, Gates sees the hybrid model as a signal to the entire industry that creative thinking around pharmacist hiring, training, and career development is no longer optional; it is essential.

For pharmacists at any stage of their career, this conversation offers a compelling look at where the profession may be heading and what a more flexible, fulfilling path forward could look like.

Stay tuned for weekly podcast episodes of Over the Counter powered by Drug Topics. Check out our most recent episode with Sylvie Stacy, MD, MPH. She discussed the expanding role of GLP-1 medications in patient care and the potential future of using these drugs to improve outcomes in the context of substance use disorder.

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