Will pharmacists take on an expanded healthcare role in a tech-enabled future?

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably been there — it’s a busy day ahead, and you’re trying to hustle yourself and the kids out the door. 

Then one of your kids comes up to say their throat hurts. Groaning, you cancel a morning meeting and consider booking a doctor’s appointment. 

But if you’re in Alberta, what you might not have to do in this scenario is frantically search for a nearby walk-in clinic with short(ish) wait times, says Joella Almeida, CEO of MedEssist, who spoke to Digital Journal at Calgary Innovation Week.

In Alberta, in some situations, licensed pharmacists can modify a prescription or prescribe on their own, she explains. 

Meaning: you can take your child to a local pharmacy for an assessment and, if necessary, get a rapid strep test — then get prescribed the necessary treatment on-site — instead of struggling to find an available doctor. 

This quick access to care can bring peace of mind, and allow people to make decisions about returning to work or daycare without further delay, Almeida says.

But like many others in healthcare, pharmacists are often overburdened, so offering support that goes beyond their traditional role can be tough to manage, she notes.

This is where tech like AI comes in, helping to tackle back-office work and getting pharmacies to run more efficiently, says Almeida.

Her company, MedEssist, equips pharmacies with a unified system that supports tasks like booking appointments, managing documentation and communicating with doctors. This frees up pharmacists’ time to do other, more important work. 

Almeida’s vision of the future for tech-enabled pharmacies is that they can do more than dispense medication. She sees pharmacies evolving into “pharmacy health clinics,” which offer both expanded care and convenience to support a highly stressed healthcare system. 

With Canadians increasingly expecting faster and more accessible services, the evolution of pharmacies into community health clinics feels natural, she says. 

“We don’t want healthcare to be siloed and kept on its own. Post-COVID, all of us have become very territorial with our time. We don’t want to wait in lines. We don’t wait for anything. Healthcare is no exception to that.” 

Enabled by digital innovation, this potential transformation promises accessible, efficient alternatives for non-urgent health conditions, supporting the Canadian healthcare landscape in new ways.

Scaling pharmacy solutions — and roles — with technology

With tools like MedEssist, pharmacies across Canada can provide a consistent level of care, creating a more dependable healthcare experience for patients, says Almeida.

In addition to the back-office support she already mentioned, the platform also includes integrations with Google and Uber, enhancing patient access even further. Patients can find nearby pharmacies, book appointments and arrange for medication deliveries with a few quick clicks. 

“Our pharmacies come up on Google, and embedded within Google Maps, you see a little ‘book online’ button,” Almeida explains, describing how the platform’s Google integrations make it easier for patients to access pharmacy services, like scheduling a vaccine.

As well, to further support the extension of pharmacists’ role, MedEssist has launched an “Access to Care” program that enables pharmacists to instantly prescribe in situations where their prescribing rights are more limited, says Elana Sarabin, go-to-market manager at the company.  

“It’s basically a collaborative prescribing agreement amongst physicians and nurse practitioners who build out workflows on our platform…so that pharmacists can actually give out prescriptions on the spot,” she explains. 

It’s not like virtual health care, where pharmacists would need to send in a request and then wait for a response from a physician, which can take time, says Sarabin. “They get to prescribe for a bunch of additional conditions that technically, within their individual provinces, is not covered under their scope of practice.”

In Ontario, for example, MedEssist has piloted programs that allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control and diabetes supplies — care that previously required a doctor’s appointment.

This combo of digital transformation and partnerships with other medical professionals is key to evolving pharmacies from medication dispensers into vital community health hubs, says Almeida. 

“It’s just not going to be a pharmacy anymore,” she says. “We call them pharmacy health clinics because it’s a merger of a walk-in clinic and a pharmacy.” 

According to Almeida, shifts toward pharmacy health clinics could represent a new, more accessible phase of healthcare, where Canadians have options beyond doctor’s offices and emergency rooms — and overworked doctors and clinics get some relief.

A new future for pharmacy care may be just around the corner, she says. 

This article was created with the assistance of AI. Learn more about our AI ethics policy here.