How Pharmacists Can Increase Access to Routine Health Care

How often do people have to leave work early for a medical appointment and wait for an hour for the doctor to perform a simple test and prescribe a routine medication that they knew in advance would happen? Like a routine urinary tract infection? Or a strep throat? Imagine if they could stop off at their local pharmacy on the way home from work, ask the pharmacist to perform the simple test, and prescribe the medication for the routine condition. There are several jurisdictions--including three states--where this convenience and accessibility is a reality. Our new policy briefing paper, Let Pharmacists Prescribe, explores a reform that would improve the quality of US healthcare while partially addressing the shortage of primary care physicians. We propose that states allow pharmacists to leverage their education and experience to safely prescribe a wider range of medications to their customers.