Hospital Strategy
Loren Bonner
While the ASHP Foundation’s annual pharmacy forecast is not intended to be an accurate prediction of future events, it’s right on the ball for 2021.
“We chose to focus on preparing leaders for a ‘black swan’ event,” said Erin Fox, PharmD, BCPS, senior pharmacy director at the University of Utah Health. “Who knew that in 2021 we would all be facing a truly unprecedented year. You can argue that COVID-19 wasn’t exactly a ‘black swan’ event as pandemics have certainly been predicted, but it was certainly unexpected.”
ASHP Foundation’s pharmacy forecast reports are intended to be used by health-system pharmacists and health-system pharmacy leaders to inform their strategic planning efforts.
“I am honestly surprised that despite COVID-19 and our group only seeing very early stages, so much of the forecast was still current,” said Fox, who helped author the first section of the report on the global drug supply chain. “We’ve seen an intense focus on the global nature of our supply chain as well as cyber security issues.” The full report, titled ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Forecast 2021: Strategic Planning Advice for Pharmacy Departments in Hospitals and Health Systems, appeared in the March 15, 2021, issue of AJHP.
“We have greatest control over the scope of our pharmacy enterprise and the workforce within that enterprise, and some control over those factors where we can advocate to the decision makers,” wrote Joseph DiPiro, PharmD, FCCP, FAAAS, dean of the School of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University, in the report.
Backstory
The report is broken up into seven chapters or sections authored by different pharmacist experts.
Each section of the report provides a summary of survey findings, assessment and perspective by the chapter author, and strategic recommendations.
Survey responses were included from 272 full-time pharmacists, with many holding the title of chief pharmacy officer, director of pharmacy, or associate/assistant director of pharmacy. Most respondents have been in practice for over 10 years.
Scope of reviews
The first chapter on the global drug supply chain discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the fragility of the global medication supply chain. Not only does it provide insight into what health systems can do to prepare for pandemics, but also what they should do with breaches in cybersecurity that could disrupt the availability or reduce the quality of medications.
The second chapter dives into health care access topics, which are especially relevant under the light of racial equity. Topics covered in this chapter include telehealth services, pharmacy technicians and their role in medication access, legal regulations concerning pharmacists’ scope of practice, alignment of formulary decisions, and inpatient access to non-FDA–regulated therapies.
In the next section on pharmacy analytics and the use of big data, the chapter authors write: “Most health systems have focused on health information technology installation and data storage, which includes advanced clinical systems, electronic health records, business intelligence, and analytics tools—the ‘things’ that collect the data. The time has come to place more emphasis on the output of these systems and harness this vast knowledge through the analysis, use, and dissemination of that data.”
In the fourth chapter on health care financing and delivery, a variety of topics are presented—from pharmacy benefit manager transparency to contracts with online distributors and value-based contracts.
The fifth chapter on patient safety addresses the role of the pharmacist as a patient safety leader and the roles of pharmacy and therapeutics committees in general. The chapter authors tie in staff resilience and well-being with patient safety.
In the next chapter on the scope of the pharmacy enterprise in health systems, authors discuss the expansion of pharmacists in primary care settings as well as the potential for pharmacist redeployment from traditional acute care positions.
Lastly, the chapter on the pharmacy workforce delves into the current challenges with an oversupply of pharmacy graduates, federal provider status recognition, and variable requirements for education and credentialing of pharmacy technicians.
DiPiro writes that: “The Pharmacy Forecast should be shared with other senior health-system leaders and executives as a resource to help them understand the challenges facing pharmacy and to help them recognize the way emerging health care trends will affect many other areas of health systems.”
Sections of ASHP Foundation’s 2021 pharmacy forecast report
- The certainty of uncertainty for a global supply chain
- Access to health care: Positioning health care systems for improvement
- Pharmacy analytics and use of big data
- Health care financing and delivery: Leading through uncertainty
- Patient safety: New frontiers for pharmacists
- Scope of the pharmacy enterprise: From volume to value
- The pharmacy workforce: The need to recalibrate supply and demand and leverage prescribing, technology, and pharmacy technicians to advance the practice of pharmacy