In a recent survey, Surescripts found growing support for pharmacists to prescribe a select number of medications to patients, thus easing the workload on physicians. Technologies like direct messaging and record sharing is making this possible.
Physician Shortage
Physicians everywhere are overworked. This is especially true in primary care where there are not enough physicians to meet the growing patient demand. This is leading to access challenges and to burnout.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts that by 2034 the US will be short:
- Between 17,800 and 48,000 primary care physicians
- Between 21,000 and 77,100 non-primary care physicians
Reducing physician workload is one way to help.
Pharmacists can Help Reduce Physician Workload
For a long time, Surescripts, the company that powers e-prescribing and provides solutions for trusted health intelligence sharing, has been a champion of allowing pharmacists to practice at the top of their license and help relieve the burden on physicians.
Pharmacists, for example, are trained and licensed to prescribe and renew a small number of medications. If patients could see their local pharmacist instead of tying up their primary care physician for this simple type of visit, this would free up a lot of appointment slots for patients with more acute issues.
Surescripts recently released the results of a survey which showed a growing need and support for pharmacists to provide more care services to patients. Healthcare IT Today reached out to Surescripts and Frank Harvey, CEO of Surescripts agreed to come on camera to discuss the survey’s findings.
The survey showed that more than 40% of prescribers support giving pharmacists the ability to prescribe medications. Does that percentage surprise you?
That percentage is continuing to grow, but it was surprising it wasn’t a higher percentage of physicians that felt pharmacists should have prescribing privileges. Pharmacists are well trained and it’s within the scope of their practice and their abilities, and they should have the ability to prescribe.
I think the reason it wasn’t higher is that we were not specific about the type of prescribing privilege in the survey. I think if we had gotten more specific around certain medication categories, it would have been a higher percentage.
The report on the survey indicates that there is growing support for pharmacists to play a larger role in the care of patients. What is driving that support?
We saw during the COVID-19 pandemic that pharmacists stepped up and were an active member of the overall health care team. That demonstration of physicians and the pharmacists working hand in hand to provide the best care to the patient proved that pharmacists can do more.
What was the most surprising finding from the survey?
The biggest surprise is that only 73% of prescribers and only half of pharmacists are concerned about primary care physician shortages. Those must be the individuals from areas that just happen to have a lot of physicians available.
But what we’re seeing, particularly in a rural areas and in some dense urban areas, is there just aren’t enough primary care physicians. I think we will continue to see that number climb as awareness grows in those areas of longer and longer wait times for an appointment.
What solutions or technologies is Surescripts is working on to reduce burden on prescribers and pharmacists?
Clinical direct messaging, which allows physicians and pharmacists in a secure methodology to message each other back and forth. This capability increases the coordination of care for patients.
Our record locator and exchange tool allows a physician that is providing care to be able to look across the ecosystem of health plans, health care entities, and pull together a complete record to really see what the patient needs and what their current health states are.
As we look toward the future, we are developing the ability to take patient charts that may be 300-400 pages and condense it down into a very digestible patient record that is focused on the area that the physician currently needs rather than have them read through all those pages.
Watch the interview with Frank Harvey to learn:
- What concrete steps need to be taken to move to more collaborative care
- Why 95% of survey respondents support pharmacists providing immunizations
Learn more about Surescripts at: https://surescripts.com/
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