Amid a growing pharmacist shortage, CVS Health is testing a new remote prescription verification system in hopes of reducing pharmacists' workloads and improving service and care for patients, Sharon Terlep writes for the Wall Street Journal.

How CVS is tackling the pharmacist shortage

According to Terlep, there was already a shortage of pharmacists before the pandemic. But demand for Covid-19 vaccines and tests combined with widespread labor shortages have only made the problem worse, cutting into drugstores' revenue and frustrating their customers.

To increase retention, major drugstores, including CVS and Walgreens, are offering new incentives such as bonuses, higher pay, and guaranteed lunch breaks. The retailers are also testing out new technology that could potentially reduce pharmacists' workload and improve service for customers.

CVS is currently testing a new system that would allow pharmacists to remotely review and enter prescription information while still meeting privacy requirements. So far, CVS has equipped the technology in around 8,000 of its more than 9,000 U.S. stores.

Roughly 400 of the company's 30,000 pharmacists are using the system to prepare drugs in locations other than where the medications will be dispensed, such as a central location, their homes, or different stores.

The initiative began this summer in Arizona, and CVS said it will reduce pharmacists' workload and allow them to provide other services for customers, such as vaccinations and health screenings.

"It's really a way to make the processing of prescriptions much more efficient," said CVS CEO Karen Lynch.

According to Prem Shah, CVS' chief pharmacy officer, the company is not looking to create pharmacist-free drugstores, but instead seeing whether pharmacies can operate without any pharmacists on staff on some occasions.

Overall, the aim of the new technology is to both lighten pharmacists' workloads and to better manage staffing levels and store traffic, which will hopefully improve working conditions and reduce turnover.

"We have to win [pharmacists] back by creating a better environment," Shah said. "We're really looking inward on how we deliver pharmacy care in our country."

Will remote prescription systems help pharmacists and patients?

However, some industry experts are unsure whether CVS' plan will ultimately improve working conditions for pharmacists or service for customers.

Regulations in certain states may also prevent CVS from expanding its plan more broadly. Currently, most state pharmacy boards don't allow pharmacists to remotely execute certain crucial tasks, such as verifying pill counts in physical bottles. In addition, some states have regulations requiring drugstores to have a certain number of pharmacists on site or prohibiting remote drug verification.

Richard Dang, president of the California Pharmacists Association, said that while he supports the idea of freeing up time for pharmacists to provide more advanced clinical services, he's skeptical the remote prescription verification CVS is implementing will actually reduce workloads or improve patient care.

He also said he's concerned a remote system will not lead to more resources or support for pharmacists in the end.

"Historically, the larger companies haven't shown a dedication in increasing personnel," Dang said. "It really depends on how it will be built up and implemented. If you verify remotely, you're losing tactile, in-person verification of the color of the pill, or the pill count. It leaves room for some error." (Terlep, Wall Street Journal, 12/4)