Pharmacy job outlook in 8 years?

[BioBeaver]

So I've been exploring this forum, and I gotta say, every Pharmacist and Pharm Student seems pretty pessimistic about job prospects in coming years.

What do you think the job outlook will be in 8 years? I know a lot will say it will be bad, but why?

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[Mosep]

Going to pharmacy school is sorta the academic equivalent of the California gold rush or the beanie baby craze of the 90's.

 

[Hello2000]

I know a lot will say it will be bad, but why?

Have you been living under a rock for the past five years?

 

[DiomedeaExulans]

Pharmacy is a sinking ship. The more people get on it the faster it will go down.

 

[pbv6]

Pharmacy is a sinking ship. The more people get on it the faster it will go down.

lol xD

 

[Old Timer]

Anyone who claims to know the future without one of these:

IS FULL OF CRAP.......

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I agree with OT.

We haven't seen the potential effects of:

New customers from Obamacare
A hypothetically improved economy
Aging Boomers

It's hard to say where it all shakes out. We do know that the market sucks balls right now, however.

 

[BMBiology]

Obamacare:

More patients but less pay.

It is almost here. Do you see hospitals and pharmacies expanding? Instead all you see is cuts and more cuts.

You know who is doing well right now? Mail order. It is all about saving and doing more with less.

 

[Hello2000]

Obamacare:

More patients but less pay.

It is almost here. Do you see hospitals and pharmacies expanding? Instead all you see is cuts and more cuts.

You know who is doing well right now? Mail order. It is all about saving and doing more with less.

Yeah, it's like trying to pour a quart into a pint pot.

 

[Old Timer]

Obamacare:

More patients but less pay.

It is almost here. Do you see hospitals and pharmacies expanding? Instead all you see is cuts and more cuts.

You know who is doing well right now? Mail order. It is all about saving and doing more with less.

Yeah, it's like trying to pour a quart into a pint pot.

FULL OF CRAP​

Now repeat after me....

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling.....

 

[Hello2000]

FULL OF CRAP​

Now repeat after me....

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling.....

Maybe it is just me, but I just don't particularly like pharmacy anymore or the way that it is run. One of the main reasons pharmacists came into being was to separate the prescribing and dispensing processes involved. Each was to be an entity all on its own to stop Dr's ripping off their patients by selling them unnecessary medications.

There is no need for that now as pharmacy chains are quite adept at carrying out this process themselves.

I just feel let down by the system that we all worked so hard to create and which is now turning round and biting us all in the butt. If it wasn't for us, they would have no product to sell.

 

[BMBiology]

Very mature Old Timer.

Here's an article in the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/24/business/la-fi-health-rates-deals-20130525

"Insurers limit doctors, hospitals in state-run exchange plans"

"Exclusive arrangements and tight networks become more common as insurers and government officials search for ways to hold down medical costs."

 

[rxlea]

Very mature Old Timer.

Here's an article in the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/24/business/la-fi-health-rates-deals-20130525

"Insurers limit doctors, hospitals in state-run exchange plans"

"Exclusive arrangements and tight networks become more common as insurers and government officials search for ways to hold down medical costs."

Because the LA Times reporters are so reputable and well versed on the workings of the health care system

 

[BMBiology]

And I am sure you know more about it than those reporters.

If you disagree with what they wrote then point it out, instead of taking a cheap shot at them because they are not as well versed as an intern pharmacist.

 

[Old Timer]

Look:

I am not telling you everything is rosy. I am telling you it's not the end of the world. Pharmacists actually have more influence now then before. I'm sure you don't remember the time doctors had a box on their script pads to check off is they wanted the name of the drug on the label. I didn't think you did. You also have some idyllic notion of what it's like to work for a private independent pharmacy in the good old days where the boss let you do whatever you wanted and you had an hour for lunch. You have no recollection of the "I am the doctor" attitude of medical practitioners that still exists but was very very high when I started out.

Those times exist in your imagination. As I have said before, I have been treated better by CVS than many private owned pharmacies. I could regale you with stories from the good old days of years gone by that would make your head spin.

Business is business. The problems are directly related to the failure of the 1992 Clinton health plan. The simple rule of politics is that if you attempt something, fail, and are punished by the voters, you stay away from that issue for a long time. Well that happened all of the power was transferred to the payers and the reimbursement fell like a brick. That's what turned us into piece workers. The chains were big enough to absorb the hit and indies sold out because they couldn't make it. My bosses at indies were just like the bosses at CVS. Do what they say, the way they say.....

So in summary:

• It's not the end of the world
• It wasn't so great in the olden days.
• The sky is not falling
• DON'T BUY GOLD

 

[Old Timer]

Very mature Old Timer.

Here's an article in the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/24/business/la-fi-health-rates-deals-20130525

"Insurers limit doctors, hospitals in state-run exchange plans"

"Exclusive arrangements and tight networks become more common as insurers and government officials search for ways to hold down medical costs."

And insurers don't limit people now? This is the best you could come up with. Limited networks, formularies, exclusive arrangements don't presently exist?

You skip the part about how those with preexisting conditions can get reasonable coverage at affordable prices, free preventive care and generally better benefits and of course how premiums are up 13% instead of the predicted 30%.

I think we need to let this play out and the market will readjust as unintended consequences appear. Just like the shortage which was so financially good to us for a while led to the surplus. We just don't know what is going to happen yet.

So go to your/wife/husband/significant other and enjoy your life. Don't stress so much about **** you are making up. Unless you can see the future, it will get here soon enough. Once it get's here, things will change again. If 45 million people suddenly have insurance and the baby boomers take drugs at an alarming rate, the chains may be expanding again and the surplus will dissipate. Nobody, including you, knows.....

 

[naseuy]

Look:

You have no recollection of the "I am the doctor" attitude of medical practitioners that still exists but was very very high when I started out.

What I hate is when I ask for doctor's NPI/license number for phoned in prescriptions, and they act like I asked for their firstborn "I'm in the system!".

Also doctors who abuse the doctor's line to process a refill for themselves...

 

[rxlea]

And I am sure you know more about it than those reporters.

If you disagree with what they wrote then point it out, instead of taking a cheap shot at them because they are not as well versed as an intern pharmacist.

Actually I do. I study it in depth everyday. It's why I'm pursuing my PhD.

Please see my post in the other thread.

EDIT: as Old Timer points out, those limitations existed long before Obamacare was a term. In fact, the limitations precluded the people who needed the most support from obtaining care. Not to mention the ridiculous price tags associated with some of the services...most of which were variable and arbitrary depending on the institution.

Patients were purchasing a service without knowing the cost to them. That doesn't sound very capitalistic to me....

 

[Old Timer]

Maybe it is just me, but I just don't particularly like pharmacy anymore or the way that it is run. One of the main reasons pharmacists came into being was to separate the prescribing and dispensing processes involved. Each was to be an entity all on its own to stop Dr's ripping off their patients by selling them unnecessary medications.

There is no need for that now as pharmacy chains are quite adept at carrying out this process themselves.

I just feel let down by the system that we all worked so hard to create and which is now turning round and biting us all in the butt. If it wasn't for us, they would have no product to sell.

First of all Pharmacy has been around since the 4th century BCE so you have done just about nothing to create the system. You are an insignificant drop in the sea of pharmacy.

When prescribing and dispensing separated maybe subject to debate, But it was the 1970's and 80's when pharmacy really went heavily into drug information. It was also the explosion of new drugs that overwhelmed physicians and created the need for pharmacists as clinical practitioners. The complexity of therapy and the explosion of drug interactions also contributed to the need.

Community pharmacy is just like general practice for MD's. 99% of what you do is boilerplate. You dispense. But 1% of the time you need to make a clinical judgement. Is this an interaction, is the dose appropriate. Computers can guide you, but you need a pharmacist to make a clinical judgement. That is not going away anytime soon.

Also, stop complaining about being bitten in the but when you are making six figures. You seem like an ungrateful ass. There are people with no jobs. So if your employers wants to work you harder for your six figures, suck it up or quit and sell cars.....

 

[BMBiology]

Actually I do. I study it in depth everyday. It's why I'm pursuing my PhD.

Really? You are going to do a PhD too? When do you start?

I hate to point out the obvious but the rate is lower than the current market rate. How do you think the insurers are able to do this? By cutting the providers pay.

 

[rxlea]

Really? You are going to do a PhD too? When do you start?

I hate to point out the obvious but the rate is lower than the current market rate. How do you think the insurers are able to do this? By cutting the providers pay.

I've already started.

Provider pay makes up 30% of our expenditure.

Now it will be tied to outcomes. That means you actually have to demonstrate your worth. Gone are the days of sign-on bonuses because you have a pulse and can count. Gone are the days of physicians just writing a script and saying, "Take this. Have a nice day."

The insurers have been given too much power in setting prices and limitations. It's not good for society, both in health and cost.

You're forgetting an important component of economics here: choice. The choice to use your purchasing power, which patients do not have. Are patients not the consumers? Why shouldn't patients be given the option to go where they want? To seek the best product?

 

[BMBiology]

No one is saying Obamacare is not good for the nation. Only time will tell.

The point I was making is that Obamacare expects health care professionals to do more with less. That is why you are seeing cuts and more cuts.

 

[rxlea]

No one is saying Obamacare is not good for the nation. Only time will tell.

The point I was making is that Obamacare expects health care professionals to do more with less. That is why you are seeing cuts and more cuts.

Yes they are. This forum is laden with criticisms of Obamacare and how it will ruin everything.

The point you are making is not really substantiated. Obamacare isn't even fully in effect.

Yes, places are being asked to do more with less because some places have been doing less with more for quite some time. I know. I worked at one and I've done quality improvement projects at others. Yes, there are places that are really going to suffer and I don't support that- particularly for the smaller community and rural hospitals. I'm anxious to see what will become of those places, although the FQHC should be receiving additional funding from the government. It will depend on how those funds are appropriated.

As I said, this transition will come with growing pains. We have to do it right but we can't do that if everyone is going to be so resistant to change.

All I ask is that you look at it a different way.

 

[Hello2000]

old timer
So if your employers wants to work you harder for your six figures, suck it up or quit and sell cars.....

There in, lies the problem. People like you are more than happy to roll over and suck it up as long as you don't upset them upstairs and your big fat paycheque arrives on time.

I have principles and what we are forced into is not pharmacy in my book. I'm quite happy to say that I have closed down two pharmacies due to lack of staff leading to, in my opinion, safety issues. As PIC I was concerned for my patients. I let both PDM's know and told them both I was not reopening the dispensary until I had adequate staff (I was floating at the time, so was not responsible for the scheduling). Two techs miraculously appeared, I never even got reprimanded or written up because they knew I was right. When you stand up to a bully they usually just crumble.

 

[Angela1234]

I predict tons of more similar topics. Especially with the new grads coming out of school without jobs.

 

[angryrx]

I predict tons of more similar topics. Especially with the new grads coming out of school without jobs.

And their schools told them of wonderful, easy, high paying, highly secure jobs...

 

[Momus]

Anyone who picks pharmacy knowing the market as it is now is a fool. Hoping it will get better is not a plan. I'd never pick pharmacy if I knew it's going downhill so fast LOL

 

[Hello2000]

Anyone who picks pharmacy knowing the market as it is now is a fool. Hoping it will get better is not a plan. I'd never pick pharmacy if I knew it's going downhill so fast LOL

 

[Hello2000]

Going to pharmacy school right now is just like .....................