The Evolving Role for Pharmacists in Managed Care

The role of the pharmacist has evolved from being the person who dispenses and prepares drugs to someone who works side-by-side with providers and face-to-face with patients, and they serve an important role in managed care to lower costs, reduce toxicity, and keep people out of the hospital, explained Scott Soefje, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, assistant professor, Mayo Clinic College of Medicines and Science.

Soefje will join a panel on day 1 of PCOC on “The Increased Visibility of Pharmacy in Cancer Care Decisions,” along with Judith Alberto, RPh, BCOP, MHA, director of clinical initiatives, Community Oncology Alliance; Chris Elder, PharmD, BCOP, associate director of pharmacy clinical services, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute; Sarah Hogue, PharmD, director of oncology pharmacy services, St. Luke’s Cancer Institute; and Sophia Humphreys, PharmD, MHA, BCBBS, director of system pharmacy formulary management and clinical programs at Sutter Health.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Transcript

What will your session on pharmacy in cancer care discuss at this year's Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting?

We want to talk about the role of the pharmacist in the cancer clinics, and how pharmacy has evolved over the last 15 [to] 20 years, moving from the pharmacist is the person who's dispensing the drugs and preparing the drugs for the patient to get administered to that pharmacist is shoulder-to-shoulder with the provider, face-to face with patients, helping them with their therapy, managing their medications and all those other things. So, that's primarily what we're going to focus on.

What's the importance of having a pharmacy-centric session at a managed care meeting like PCOC?

People have to understand the role of a pharmacist and the value we bring. When we reach the point where people understand that pharmacists are valuable [and] start asking for pharmacist services, that's when I think the role of the pharmacist will skyrocket.

One of our problems right now in pharmacy is we're still struggling to show what is the value of the pharmacist and how do we help. I think it's getting easier, and we're starting to see the results. We're starting to see people publish this type of information. Getting the managed care group to understand, yes, pharmacists are going to help you lower costs, reduce toxicity, keep people out of the hospital, whatever it is you're looking at, then I think it's one of those things that really help us. And that's why it's important.