Pharmacy technicians are the future of our profession: true or false?

[BenJammin]

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Pharmacists are not going to get expanded roles without opposition from the medical board. Since pharmacists couldn't care less about their profession, state boards have the ability to grant technicians more power without worrying about backlash. Aren't they the future of our profession?

 

[APN-59 rph]

Pharmacists are not going to get expanded roles without opposition from the medical board. Since pharmacists couldn't care less about their profession, state boards have the ability to grant technicians more power without worrying about backlash. Aren't they the future of our profession?

What is starting to catch on somewhat is locating pharmacists and techs at a central pharmacy and then installing video links along with the usual automation to small, tech staffed "dispensing offices" (cannot be referred to as pharmacies) around the territory as needed..Then techs in the dispensing offices process everything, and a central pharmacist does a final check via video that shows hard copy...pills on tray...bottle filled from..etc. Video is stored for proof..Central Rph talks to patient on camera and Adios....

 

[Chrish]

OP,

Do you own independent or work in the hospital?

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Pharmacists are not going to get expanded roles without opposition from the medical board. Since pharmacists couldn't care less about their profession, state boards have the ability to grant technicians more power without worrying about backlash. Aren't they the future of our profession?

Yes. Like I say, the value proposition of a pharmacist is next to none because they are doctors of looking things up on Lexicomp. When most of your role (dispensing) can be done by a lay person and most of the “clinical” parts of your role (consultations, dosage/interaction checks etc.) involve looking things up on a computer which a lay person can also do, it’s hard to see how a pharmacist is any different than a technician besides the degree.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Yes. Like I say, the value proposition of a pharmacist is next to none because they are doctors of looking things up on Lexicomp. When most of your role (dispensing) can be done by a lay person and most of the “clinical” parts of your role (consultations, dosage/interaction checks etc.) involve looking things up on a computer which a lay person can also do, it’s hard to see how a pharmacist is any different than a technician besides the degree.

Not this excuse again. Any diagnosis can be looked up too.

 

[TheBlaah]

Depends what type of role. Purely dispensing roles and med reconciliation roles , sure, a tech will suffice.

Anything that would require a consultation or narcotic inventory, I would request a pharmacist.

For narcotics, it's a simple matter of not trusting an employee who has so little to lose compared to the potential gain of narcotic diversion.

As for clinical decisions, everything can be looked up, but making the decision in a reasonable amount of time and also deciding what interactions/risks are actually significant is what makes it necessary for a pharmacist.

 

[mentos]

Only if they don't call out half the time.

 

[Saiyo]

No one likes pharmacists 🙁

 

[MilknCheerios]

There's no "neither" option and perhaps there should be. Even if the technician role was expanded, pharmacists will still be necessary maybe just not in great numbers. I've worked with many a tech, some lifers, that still ask what benzos are used for or how to dose adjust from amox 250/5 to amox 400/5.

 

[Mr. Corporate Pharmacist]

True, but only because we're all going to evolve.

We have to to keep up with the market somehow

But the community pharmacist's ability to manage clinical, legal, and regulatory risk is probably our biggest value.

Add business management and leadership on top of that, and we're indispensable.

But lots of pharmacists don't want these responsibilities.

That's when we should be worried: when we're no longer providing substantial value.

That's probably how many people feel.

Automation, AI, consolidation of jobs, restructuring.

It's all happening on some level.

So we second guess how we contribute to humanity and what value we offer as healthcare providers.

Value is measured differently in other fields.

But to stay at the top of this profession, we have to produce top-level results.

Who knows what that will really mean in the future?

 

[WVUPharm2007]

No, this is stupid. RPHs are just going to gradually get paid less. It's that simple.

 

[BidingMyTime]

For narcotics, it's a simple matter of not trusting an employee who has so little to lose compared to the potential gain of narcotic diversion.

Yeah, that is why banks pay their tellers $120,000 per year, so they don't steal all the money. Oh wait, they don't. A highly paid person isn't needed to prevent narcotic diversion, cameras everywhere is what prevents diversion.

 

[TheBlaah]

Yeah, that is why banks pay their tellers $120,000 per year, so they don't steal all the money. Oh wait, they don't. A highly paid person isn't needed to prevent narcotic diversion, cameras everywhere is what prevents diversion.

Tellers are the technicians of the banking world. Sure, they handle the money, but they're not the ones responsible for auditing and tracking it.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Tellers are the technicians of the banking world. Sure, they handle the money, but they're not the ones responsible for auditing and tracking it.

Pretty sure a pharmacist could leave their last shift and steal anything without anyone noticing. I've never been stopped by anyone even if I have a bag in my hands.

 

[SevenPharmacyCalls]

any chance in the future that doctors diagnose chronic diseases and write an rx of the diagnosis. have the pt bring the diagnosis to the pharmacy and have the pharmacist manage the pt's medications.

 

[wagrxm2000]

any chance in the future that doctors diagnose chronic diseases and write an rx of the diagnosis. have the pt bring the diagnosis to the pharmacy and have the pharmacist manage the pt's medications.

While that's the ideal situation and I believe would actually help people the most, it'll never happen.

I can't count the amount of times where a person comes in to get their blood pressure taken and it's high. What happens? Nothing, they come in for their refill and I take it again and it's still high.

Yes there are more complicated issues, but this is just a shame.




But it'll never happen.

 

[Gombrich12]

No, this is stupid. RPHs are just going to gradually get paid less. It's that simple.

This is most likely correct, but the question is how much less? As pharmacist salaries fall and unemployment goes up the hospital and retail companies will have a harder time making their case for expanded tech roles.

 

[rxkrafted]

any chance in the future that doctors diagnose chronic diseases and write an rx of the diagnosis. have the pt bring the diagnosis to the pharmacy and have the pharmacist manage the pt's medications.

That won't be a good idea unless we had records of the patients H&P. It's not that simple. Also there are many areas of specialty that require you to be up-to-date with information and guidelines so where do you draw the line?

 

[beautifulrobot]

That won't be a good idea unless we had records of the patients H&P. It's not that simple. Also there are many areas of specialty that require you to be up-to-date with information and guidelines so where do you draw the line?

MD/DO - perform H&P, diagnostics, differential, etc. come up with diagnosis, refer to pharmacist for medication management.
PharmD - review diagnosis and design medication treatment plan that takes into consideration patient-specific variables based on MD/DO's workup.

Both MD/DO and PharmD keep up-to-date with information and guidelines by performing required CE, maintaining BC credentials, etc.

MD/DOs are able to dedicate more time to their area of expertise, PharmDs are able to dedicate more time to their area of expertise, and patient gets better care. Everyone is better off and happy.

Main question is who pays for the MD/DO and PharmD to do all this work, and is this a service the patient actually values? In most cases, the patient (and their insurer) would rather just see an NP for cheap, have the NP prescribe whatever medication their friend or google told them was the best, and get their medication as quick and cheap as possible with the least amount of interaction with a pharmacist or any other stranger who is just a gatekeeping nuisance.

 

[DIPEA]

Big data/AI and big techs, i.e. Amazon, are the future of this profession, even though that will undoubtedly mean massive layoffs of pharmacists and technicians, along with closure of numerous brick-mortar pharmacies. But that's where this profession is heading towards.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

Pharmacists are not going to get expanded roles without opposition from the medical board. Since pharmacists couldn't care less about their profession, state boards have the ability to grant technicians more power without worrying about backlash. Aren't they the future of our profession?

This would be the same question as to if PAs or nurses are the future of medicine in which most doctors will think youre stupid and not respond to you lol.

No, techs are not the future. Unless they go to school and learn the difference between anticoagulants and antiplatelets or why we cant just swallow ODT meds (complaints which ive gotten from techs and was told, “its a pill! You just swallow it!).

Some techs think that theyre so important bc they can compound. Im sure Elon Musk can take the Model X apart and put it together himself but... why would he if he could just pay others to do that?

 

[BidingMyTime]

any chance in the future that doctors diagnose chronic diseases and write an rx of the diagnosis. have the pt bring the diagnosis to the pharmacy and have the pharmacist manage the pt's medications.

Zero chance. My pharmacy professors were also touting this back in the late 80's. MD's/DO's will *never* give up prescribing. And now we have PA's & NP's prescribing as well. Sure, it might happen to some extent in hospitals, or specialized clinics (like coumadin), but it will never happen beyond that. I would have give in a slight chance of happening if we actually had a strong pharmacist association to fight for that back in the 80's. Slight chance, but still unlikely. Now, zero chance.

 

[BidingMyTime]

No, techs are not the future. Unless they go to school and learn the difference between anticoagulants and antiplatelets or why we cant just swallow ODT meds (complaints which ive gotten from techs and was told, “its a pill! You just swallow it!).

Well, technically it depends on the drug. If bioavailability isn't an issue with the drug, then the ODT could be swallowed (although it would negate the benefits of giving it ODT.)

 

[Sine Cura]

The future of retail pharmacy is single moms with no sense of responsibility and poor impulse control?

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I wouldn't trust the vast majority of techs to make me a ham sandwich without close supervision and rigorous checks in place.

Techs are just another expression of an un-named group of society. The tattoo artists, the MAs, the fast food workers.
Nobody outside of this group would ever consider dealing with the insane amount of work and stress techs do for the measly pay.

You could literally make more at chick fil a.

 

[rxkrafted]

I've worked with a wide age group of technicians from 19 y/o all the way up to 64 y/o from both retail and hospital settings. I don't think any of them would even want more power because that would mean more work. Like everyone else was saying, they even make the simplest mistakes on a daily basis so granting more power would mean higher risk to patients. Most of these mistakes are usually from a combination of repetitiveness and laziness. Technicians in the hospital setting are comfortable doing very mundane tasks because its easy and they get paid well.. Can't say the same for retail though because they tend to get burnt out quick and have high turnover

 

[owlegrad]

You could literally make more at chick fil a.

Plus everything is your pleasure.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

why we cant just swallow ODT meds (complaints which ive gotten from techs and was told, “its a pill! You just swallow it!)

You need to do some CE

 

[Sabril]

Tellers are the technicians of the banking world. Sure, they handle the money, but they're not the ones responsible for auditing and tracking it.

yeah but tellers get fired if they can't count correctly past 30.

 

[jecpharm89]

Yes. Like I say, the value proposition of a pharmacist is next to none because they are doctors of looking things up on Lexicomp. When most of your role (dispensing) can be done by a lay person and most of the “clinical” parts of your role (consultations, dosage/interaction checks etc.) involve looking things up on a computer which a lay person can also do, it’s hard to see how a pharmacist is any different than a technician besides the degree.

Are you a pharmacist? I hope not. If so, you have obviously never done anything worthwhile as a pharmacist to feel this way. Now I am angry with this profession and schools and all of that but you have no idea what it means to make a difference in someone’s life:health and you don’t deserve a license or a place in this forum.

 

[Alexis_pharmD]

Yes. Like I say, the value proposition of a pharmacist is next to none because they are doctors of looking things up on Lexicomp. When most of your role (dispensing) can be done by a lay person and most of the “clinical” parts of your role (consultations, dosage/interaction checks etc.) involve looking things up on a computer which a lay person can also do, it’s hard to see how a pharmacist is any different than a technician besides the degree.

I don't agree with this at all.
I am sure all the retail pharmacists get a call from provider on daily basis to suggest an alternate therapy for a patient which is covered by their insurance.
for an instance, after stent if patient got discharged on Brilinta (which needs PA for most ins plans) then we recommend to switch it to Plavix and counsel patient on Plavix + aspirin 81. I am sure a high school grad tech would know this anti platelet meds!!!!!
Diet counselling on Warfarin.
Verifying DVT/PE dosing for Xarelto and Eliquis. In my seven years of practice I have seen wrong Eliquis or Xarelto dosing many times. As NP/or PA may make errors while they are overloaded with patient requests.
C- diff diarrhea causing antibiotics counselling-probiotics.
educate them on how to use inhalers and insulin pens. how to monitor their blood glucose?? and how to adjust sliding scale insulin. (I am working with 15 years experience techs at hospital pharmacy and no one knows the difference between intermediate, short, long acting, GLP-1 etc....)
isotretinoin/clozapine (ANC count)
Plus everyday retail pharmacists give advise for OTC products to patients who wants symptomatic relief. which saves them urgent care visit. Every year more and more products are getting added as OTC.
Plus drug interactions, solving DUR...
techs would never question dosing,
Last week one ID specialist added Levaquin bid ???? I called him and he changed it to cipro bid. I am sure a high school grad would know the dosing on antibiotics too.
I receive so many calls from ER residents regarding pediatric antibiotic dosing!!!!!
no way this can be done by Techs. Most of the techs can not even pass their certification in first attempt.
I know our profession is saturated(which is very sad) and due to lower reimbursement we have to work with less help. But Please do not downgrade our profession. We add a huge value to health care team. unknowingly we prevent so many errors on daily basis. Sometimes we prevent life threating errors too. It's a tough time for our profession. Every profession has it's tough time. We just need to stand strong together. Our time will come back!!!! I hope!!!

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Are you a pharmacist? I hope not. If so, you have obviously never done anything worthwhile as a pharmacist to feel this way. Now I am angry with this profession and schools and all of that but you have no idea what it means to make a difference in someone’s life:health and you don’t deserve a license or a place in this forum.

They're right, though. Most retail pharmacists do not do anything worthwhile in the grand scheme of things.
Sure, we catch mistakes, but the really relevant ones are few and far between

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Are you a pharmacist? I hope not. If so, you have obviously never done anything worthwhile as a pharmacist to feel this way. Now I am angry with this profession and schools and all of that but you have no idea what it means to make a difference in someone’s life:health and you don’t deserve a license or a place in this forum.

I don't agree with this at all.
I am sure all the retail pharmacists get a call from provider on daily basis to suggest an alternate therapy for a patient which is covered by their insurance.
for an instance, after stent if patient got discharged on Brilinta (which needs PA for most ins plans) then we recommend to switch it to Plavix and counsel patient on Plavix + aspirin 81. I am sure a high school grad tech would know this anti platelet meds!!!!!
Diet counselling on Warfarin.
Verifying DVT/PE dosing for Xarelto and Eliquis. In my seven years of practice I have seen wrong Eliquis or Xarelto dosing many times. As NP/or PA may make errors while they are overloaded with patient requests.
C- diff diarrhea causing antibiotics counselling-probiotics.
educate them on how to use inhalers and insulin pens. how to monitor their blood glucose?? and how to adjust sliding scale insulin. (I am working with 15 years experience techs at hospital pharmacy and no one knows the difference between intermediate, short, long acting, GLP-1 etc....)
isotretinoin/clozapine (ANC count)
Plus everyday retail pharmacists give advise for OTC products to patients who wants symptomatic relief. which saves them urgent care visit. Every year more and more products are getting added as OTC.
Plus drug interactions, solving DUR...
techs would never question dosing,
Last week one ID specialist added Levaquin bid ???? I called him and he changed it to cipro bid. I am sure a high school grad would know the dosing on antibiotics too.
I receive so many calls from ER residents regarding pediatric antibiotic dosing!!!!!
no way this can be done by Techs. Most of the techs can not even pass their certification in first attempt.
I know our profession is saturated(which is very sad) and due to lower reimbursement we have to work with less help. But Please do not downgrade our profession. We add a huge value to health care team. unknowingly we prevent so many errors on daily basis. Sometimes we prevent life threating errors too. It's a tough time for our profession. Every profession has it's tough time. We just need to stand strong together. Our time will come back!!!! I hope!!!

Of course I’m a pharmacist. You retail pharmacists are just trying to talk up your jobs for more than what they’re worth. AI and automation are killing your jobs, as DIPEA has so kindly pointed out, so feel free to stay in your happy-go-lucky mentality while your jobs are cut. It’s time to face reality — the retail pharmacist skillset is clearly not valued, why else would salaries be dropping?

 

[PharmtoCS]

With today’s rushed, metric-oriented work environment combined with poor admission standards of pharmacy schools today it would be no surprise if many pharmacists (especially new grads) blow through every significant DUR and don’t check fill dates on controlled substances.

 

[BenJammin]

Texas considering making the ratio unlimited and expanding tech duties. 65% of you got it oh so wrong. Technicians truly are the future of the profession.

 

[TranslationalRPh]

Texas considering making the ratio unlimited and expanding tech duties. 65% of you got it oh so wrong. Technicians truly are the future of the profession.

Trying to figure out if this is a troll post. By this logic, because qualified pharmacists in Florida, NC, California, and Oregon have limited prescriptive rights, then that's the future of the profession. Anyone can take an isolated example and try to prove their argument. That doesn't in itself necessarily strengthen the merits of the argument.

Could Prescribing Become a Daily Duty for Pharmacists?

Some recent changes at the state level have led to me wonder whether prescribing could become a daily duty for pharmacists in the future.

www.pharmacytimes.com

 

[JustFillIt]

Plus everything is your pleasure.

This is funny.. I think it’s something that they are forced to say. I noticed this the past few times I have gone here.

 

[BidingMyTime]

This is funny.. I think it’s something that they are forced to say. I noticed this the past few times I have gone here.

Ya think? Yes, that is a well known job requirement at Chick-Fil-A.

 

[Wickett]

This is funny.. I think it’s something that they are forced to say. I noticed this the past few times I have gone here.

I was a tech at Wags during the whole "be well" being forced on us instead of telling people goodbye like a normal human being. I used to get yelled at by my PIC all the time for not saying it.

 

[PikminOC]

MD/DO - perform H&P, diagnostics, differential, etc. come up with diagnosis, refer to pharmacist for medication management.
PharmD - review diagnosis and design medication treatment plan that takes into consideration patient-specific variables based on MD/DO's workup.

Both MD/DO and PharmD keep up-to-date with information and guidelines by performing required CE, maintaining BC credentials, etc.

MD/DOs are able to dedicate more time to their area of expertise, PharmDs are able to dedicate more time to their area of expertise, and patient gets better care. Everyone is better off and happy.

Main question is who pays for the MD/DO and PharmD to do all this work, and is this a service the patient actually values? In most cases, the patient (and their insurer) would rather just see an NP for cheap, have the NP prescribe whatever medication their friend or google told them was the best, and get their medication as quick and cheap as possible with the least amount of interaction with a pharmacist or any other stranger who is just a gatekeeping nuisance.

Last paragraph is exactly right. Mid-levels don't care as physician gets dinged for mid-level prescribing.
Mid-levels care much more !

 

[BenJammin]

Choose PTCB. Choose Excellence.

Earn a PTCB credential and build an exciting and rewarding career in healthcare.

www.ptcb.org

When the TSBP met to discuss eliminating technician ratios pretty recently they talked about education standards for techs. Don't kid yourself. Very soon we will see the advance practice pharmacy technician.

 

[beautifulrobot]

Why reign in education costs when you can just fire the overpaid, overeducated employees and let the cheaper ones do the work? Same story with PA's, NP's and now it's happening in dentistry. Nothing new. The educational system wastes everyone's time and charges a premium for it because they can get away with it. States are now trying to solve the problem by stripping professions of their professional duties and relegating them to cheaper workers instead of fixing the bloated educational and healthcare system. Why have everything function when you can just screw everyone over at every level to solve the problem? Because America.

Yep. This is the direction things will go until some terrible tragedy happens to enough people (who matter to society). Then moral panic will ensue and the pendulum will swing the other direction. (I don't know if this is unique to American society, it seems like a human problem more generally.)

 

[BenJammin]

Last Tuesday the Texas board of pharmacy just approved an unlimited technician ratio and to allow techs to take verbal orders, do transfers, and make necessary changes to prescriptions. This is kind of leading to a big announcement for a project I've been working on since the beginning of the year. It will shock and offend a lot of people but we'll see what happens

 

[Xenophylia]

any chance in the future that doctors diagnose chronic diseases and write an rx of the diagnosis. have the pt bring the diagnosis to the pharmacy and have the pharmacist manage the pt's medications.

In a word, NO.

Choose PTCB. Choose Excellence.

Earn a PTCB credential and build an exciting and rewarding career in healthcare.

www.ptcb.org

When the TSBP met to discuss eliminating technician ratios pretty recently they talked about education standards for techs. Don't kid yourself. Very soon we will see the advance practice pharmacy technician.

THIS is truly the future of pharmacy. You can already see this happening as they remove pharmacist/technician ratios. Eventually one pharmacist will be unable to safely supervise all of the incompetent underlings and the whole system will need to be re-worked as they reveal that we can no longer do what we're paid ("big bucks"...LOL) to do, which is insure patient safety. This will- of course- be OUR fault, despite it being forced on us. Corporations want this. Techs want this. The only ones who don't want this are pharmacists and as we know our thoughts count for nothing. We are pretty much a vestigial limb of a dying/ dysfunctional system. At some point- at least in retail- there will be a "supervising technician" with a BARE minimum of knowledge to verify rxs input by the hordes of cheap, unskilled "filler techs". The public and corporate clearly sees pharmacists as having no value whatsoever. They just want cheap warm bodies to do the drudge work. And that's where we're headed. It might take 5 years, or twenty. But it will happen because greed drives those who control the fate of our profession. They are the retail CEOs who want nothing more than a new way to save a buck.

And once pharmacist salaries approach tech levels, no one will (hopefully) be dumb enough to waste all that time on an education when you can do the same thing with an associate's degree (or less). We as a profession will just disappear as advanced degree techs take our places and responsibilities.

The same thing is happening with midlevels and physicians, but the encroachment there is much more subtle as physicians have a much more powerful lobbying present than we do. Traditionally, no one will go to bat for us who matters so we don't have that protection.

 

[Marzapan]

The same thing is happening with midlevels and physicians, but the encroachment there is much more subtle as physicians have a much more powerful lobbying present than we do. Traditionally, no one will go to bat for us who matters so we don't have that protection.

But but but... we have that keyboard warrior of an APhA president trying to stir things up in social media by flaming the corporate chains, PBMs, etc. How do you think that's going?

 

[Marzapan]

THIS is truly the future of pharmacy. You can already see this happening as they remove pharmacist/technician ratios. Eventually one pharmacist will be unable to safely supervise all of the incompetent underlings and the whole system will need to be re-worked as they reveal that we can no longer do what we're paid ("big bucks"...LOL) to do, which is insure patient safety. This will- of course- be OUR fault, despite it being forced on us. Corporations want this. Techs want this. The only ones who don't want this are pharmacists and as we know our thoughts count for nothing. We are pretty much a vestigial limb of a dying/ dysfunctional system. At some point- at least in retail- there will be a "supervising technician" with a BARE minimum of knowledge to verify rxs input by the hordes of cheap, unskilled "filler techs". The public and corporate clearly sees pharmacists as having no value whatsoever. They just want cheap warm bodies to do the drudge work. And that's where we're headed. It might take 5 years, or twenty. But it will happen because greed drives those who control the fate of our profession. They are the retail CEOs who want nothing more than a new way to save a buck.

And once pharmacist salaries approach tech levels, no one will (hopefully) be dumb enough to waste all that time on an education when you can do the same thing with an associate's degree (or less). We as a profession will just disappear as advanced degree techs take our places and responsibilities.

The grand irony of r/pharmacy is that everyone (pharmacists and techs) pretends to work and stand together for the same cause. In reality, nothing can be further from the truth because technicians are constantly working to undermine what pharmacists do, while pharmacists are trying unsuccessfully to distinguish themselves from their midlevel counterparts (techs), let alone other health care professions. Technicians have been the backbone of pharmacy practice and will continue to maintain ground there for decades to come, at the expense of pharmacists so the pharmacist jobs that are tied to dispensing will be eliminated within the next decade due to things like advanced practice/residency-trained techs, tech-check-tech, unlimited tech ratios etc. Any pharmacist who still thinks that these enhanced tech services will "free up pharmacists to do more clinical things" is living in a dream world because we aren't being reimbursed for clinical services, and even if we did, it wouldn't be enough to justify having a pharmacist focus on 100% clinical services (unless they were paid $50k which is where salaries will eventually drop to anyways).

 

[Xenophylia]

But but but... we have that keyboard warrior of an APhA president trying to stir things up in social media by flaming the corporate chains, PBMs, etc. How do you think that's going?

uhhhh...likely nowhere??? Too little. MUCH too late...

 

[Sabril]

Technicians have been the backbone of pharmacy practice and will continue to maintain ground there for decades to come,

The backbone of my pharmacy had to use a kirby lester and still miscounted 12 tablets of sildenafil.

 

[Marzapan]

The backbone of my pharmacy had to use a kirby lester and still miscounted 12 tablets of sildenafil.

You can always find good techs so long as you offer the right pay. When retail pharmacy is completely inverted (no pharmacists onsite, etc.), I can see pay bumps going to techs.

Plus, even if you have techs who are incompetent at counting, their work will still be checked by another (most likely) tech. And before you bring up the argument that two incompetent techs checking each other = dispensing error, the counterargument to that is that the strategy in pharmacy has always been to minimize medication errors, not eliminate them altogether. It's much more cost-effective for a corporation to cut labor costs dramatically and deal with lawsuits as they come, rather than pay a premium for labor and still run the risk of medication errors/lawsuits coming to them. Kind of like how (barring legal requirements) it's more cost-effective for the average joe to never pay for car insurance and pay out of pocket if they get into an accident, versus paying for monthly insurance for years on end.

 

[NorthTexasPharmacist]

But but but... we have that keyboard warrior of an APhA president trying to stir things up in social media by flaming the corporate chains, PBMs, etc. How do you think that's going?

APhA, as I have found out after becoming a pharmacist, has no real power. They're more like a PMB where they just suck up money with no tangible action.

Change would need to come from local and state level. Fortunately, real actions are taking place through out the nation. A few examples are,

Texas Pharmacy Association Announces New Academy to Strengthen, Unite Independent Pharmacy - Texas Pharmacy Association

Oral arguments in U.S. Supreme Court PBM case get a new date

The case was filed by Arkansas Attorney General (AG) Leslie Rutledge. PCMA is the professional association that represents PBMs. “This case is one of the most impactful health care cases at the Supreme Court in a decade. That’s why the U.S. Solicitor General encouraged the Court to take this...

www.pharmacist.com

District court rules in favor of Oklahoma in PBM statute

A federal district court in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma issued a ruling substantially granting the state of Oklahoma’s request to implement its PBM regulatory statute while it is being challenged before the court in PCMA v. Mulready. Specifically, the...

ncpa.org

There are plenty more of these examples if you google them.

If anyone is interested, it would be a good time to buy an independent pharmacy right now.