Let Pharmacists Prescribe

The United States has a worsening shortage of primary care clinicians.1 The shortage is more severe in rural areas and medically underserved urban communities but is extending to communities throughout the country. Pharmacists are licensed health professionals with expertise in the proper dosing of medications, their interactions with other drugs, and the conditions for which they are indicated or contraindicated. In recent years, 50 states and the District of Columbia have permitted pharmacists to increase their scope of practice to varying degrees. The United Kingdom, the Australian state of Queensland, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Ontario allow pharmacists with appropriate training to independently prescribe medications to treat a wide array of medical conditions. Recently, in the United States, Idaho has similarly expanded pharmacists' scope of practice. Montana and Colorado subsequently implemented comparable reforms. Pharmacies are more numerous and accessible than primary care practitioners. Many are open 24 hours. Evidence suggests that pharmacists and patients are willing to take advantage of new independent prescribing at scale, while prescribing under collaborative practice agreements, in which licensed prescribers supervise pharmacists in diagnosing and treating problems, has been less effective. Ideally, states should repeal health professional licensing laws--third-party credentialing and certification organizations can perform licensing boards' functions. If that is not politically feasible, states should allow patients to access pharmacists for a wide array of routine medical problems, which would save them time and money and improve access to primary health care. State lawmakers should expand pharmacists' scope of practice to allow them to independently treat a wide range of medical conditions.