More can and should be done to better support pharmacy teams and evolve the pharmacy model 

While the pandemic reinforced the important role pharmacy teams play, it also demanded more of community pharmacy than ever before, exacerbating long-standing industry and workforce challenges. But although the pandemic is behind us, our local communities are still experiencing increased demands for their services; local, accessible care is more important than ever before.

In fact, consumers now want and expect to receive a greater range of services from their local pharmacy teams, including help with medication management, disease screenings, vaccinations, and more. Furthermore, according to a recent CVS Health/Harris Poll study, 84% of consumers say pharmacists play a critical role in providing these types of health care services to patients.

It’s clear that to continue to deliver important care and support patients, when and how they want, now is the time for us to champion change in the industry. There is recognition across the industry that more can and should be done to better support pharmacy teams and also evolve the pharmacy model.

The status quo is no longer good enough. As chief pharmacy officer of CVS Health, it’s my mission to help redefine the future of pharmacy for both our colleagues and our patients.

Evolving how we work

Our colleagues are my top priority. They must feel supported, heard, and understood. It’s why we are making sustainable changes, informed by their feedback, to help make community pharmacy a better place to work. We can’t evolve or enhance our ability to care for patients the way they have come to expect unless we take care of our colleagues first.

This includes creating efficiency and capacity for pharmacists and their teams to exercise their clinical abilities and deliver the comprehensive pharmacy services consumers want. To accomplish that, we must create more sustainable working conditions for community pharmacy teams across the industry, which requires bold changes that help address industrywide challenges, in addition to fostering a more balanced, positive work environment.

That is also why at CVS Pharmacy, we are doing digital in a whole new way—not only enhancing our digital tools to help us deliver better online and in-store experiences—but also using technology to better support our colleagues, so they can do more of the purpose-driven work we know they want to do.

This includes deploying digital innovations that help to balance workloads, create efficiency, and provide more flexibility for pharmacy teams, including helping to ease the burden of administrative tasks associated with dispensing medications. Other innovations include upgrades to the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) process and using digital technology for early risk detection, among other things, to add complementary layers of safety and accuracy checks throughout the prescription fulfillment process.

These types of digital pharmacy innovations help ensure consumers receive consistent, personalized, quality care while supporting pharmacists to do their best work. In fact, 85% of pharmacists say that digitally automating more processes would improve the quality of interactions with patients.

While there is a critical need for sustainable and scalable industrywide change to better support pharmacy teams behind the counter, it’s important to note that more needs to be done to address growing pressures on the industry. That’s why we recently announced our new pharmacy reimbursement model, called CVS CostVantage. The new model will shift how the pharmacy is compensated by aligning reimbursement to the quality services provided and prescriptions dispensed.

Ongoing commitment to do better

Our pharmacy teams help people navigate the health care system—and their personal health care—by improving access, lowering costs, and being a trusted partner for every meaningful moment of health. And they do it all with heart, every day.

I take my role and my commitment to our colleagues and community pharmacy seriously. It’s my mission to help cultivate and transform the community pharmacy experience and create a more durable pharmacy industry poised to support our patients far into the future. It starts with better supporting our colleagues. The ultimate goal is to create a best-in-class experience for those behind the bench, strengthening our foundation to deliver even better consumer experiences and patient care at the pharmacy counter. It also means thinking differently about our pharmacy model.

We’re doing all that we can to make this a reality. The future of the industry, our valued community pharmacy teams, and their patients depend on it.

Learn more about how we’re visioning the future of community pharmacy here.

Prem Shah, PharmD, is executive vice president, chief pharmacy officer, and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness at CVS Health. CVS Health is a sponsor of Fortune WELL.