The difficulty will lie in convincing people the information they had been recieving in the past or could walk into most pharmacies now and recieve would no longer be FREE. This is a VERY tough sale. Insurance companies are not the only ones who would have to pay for these services. People call or consult pharmacies very, very often, at least in my experience, for drug information. They also expect counseling services at the pharmacy. I am aware of other group teaching services (eg diabetes counseling or drug regimin reviews) that pharmacists are seeking reimbursement for, but the that if pharmacists begin seeing sizeable reimbursement for these services, there will be a rush to bill for every possible service. Even if there is no rush, those without insurance or with high copays will have to be convinced to pay. Those without insurance will be caught in the middle. In fact, one of my pharmacy professors spent a great deal of time going over her thoughts on how to convince patients to pay for services that were once free and customers have come to expect.
>But as has been stated already, the public perception of pharmacy needs to change. When people have questions about disease/drugs, the expert seems to be the physician.
The physicians are the disease experts and should be viewed as such, period. We can argue about the drug issue, and my opinion is clear, only strengthened as I proceed through med school. However, I would say, because they are more available, that pharmacists are consulted much more often by patients than physicians about medications, so that is not really the problem.
>I think over time the public will begin to see the professional services that pharmacists can offer.
It goes beyond knowing about these services, but convincing patients that what used to be free in the past will no longer be so.
Jason
