Healthcare is notoriously more difficult to provide for rural communities than urban ones. Rural Americans are less likely to have a healthcare provider they trust and have more difficulty reaching doctors and hospitals. Nearly two-thirds of rural communities suffer from a shortage of primary care physicians. However, several states have faced this challenge by using the local community nature of pharmacies to make up some of the difference.
The United States is 64,000 doctors short of need, with the gap expected to grow. As the shortage gets larger, the healthcare system needs to adapt, especially in underserved areas. Several states provide examples of how expanding pharmacists’ prescription authority can make access to basic and routine healthcare more accessible, especially in rural areas.
Every state allows some pharmacist prescribing, such as for COVID-19 treatment. However, some states go further than others. Only eight states allow pharmacists to independently prescribe smoking cessation tools, making quitting smoking, which is already infamously difficult, even harder. As of 2023, only 17 states allow pharmacists any authority to prescribe prophylactic medicine to prevent HIV.
While not all medical care can be devolved to a pharmacy setting, pharmacists can bring many health solutions closer to patients while simultaneously relieving pressure on the limited supply of doctors and lowering patient costs. Numerous states are allowing pharmacists to have prescription authority. Eleven states have expanded their pharmacists’ prescribing authority.
The specific conditions pharmacists are allowed to prescribe for vary by state but include diabetes, COVID/cold/flu, contraception, post-exposure HIV treatment, HIV/AIDS, arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and more.
Read the full article here.
Justin Leventhal is a senior policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information visit www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.