Rx trends 2015: Shifting health care’s front line

NEW YORK — Call it the point-of-care revolution: The accelerating shift of patients from overcrowded doctors’ offices to accessible, clinically engaged pharmacists and retail clinicians for front-line health-and-wellness services.

 

Fueling the revolution is a shrinking pool of primary care physicians and the increasing willingness of patients, payers and providers to seek alternate sites of care to curb the health cost spiral. Pharmacy providers are responding aggressively with diagnostic and disease management services, wellness and medication therapy management programs, adherence efforts and other initiatives as they campaign for full provider status.

 

“In 2015, states will lead the way in
allowing nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists to
do more,” PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted in a report. “Scopes of practice for these ‘extenders’ will expand as the U.S. healthcare system absorbs millions of newly insured consumers under the [Affordable Care Act] and … a cresting wave of aging baby boomers.

 

“These clinicians could offset shortages
of physicians, allowing all caregivers to practice at the tops of their training,” PwC reported. “By the end of 2014, more than half of states were weighing expansion of clinical duties for nurses, … pharmacists and others.”

 

A recent PwC survey indicated that “consumers are ready for this shift,” with half of respondents reporting they “would be comfortable going to a pharmacist instead of a doctor for some services.”

 

Health plans focused on costs and patient access embrace the shift. “Purchasers are very frustrated that the cost of care keeps going up,” said Bernard Tyson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente. “Now, the American people are paying more and more for their care, and … they’re asking about alternatives. They’re asking … ‘What’s the easiest way I can get the care I need, … and what’s the right intervention?’ And those are different questions that we are not used to in the healthcare industry.”