The Value of a Pharmacist in the Community with Benjamin McNabb

Benjamin McNabb, PharmD, owner and pharmacist at Love Oak Pharmacy in rural Texas, discusses the value of the pharmacist today.

Alana Hippensteele: Hi, I'm speaking with Dr. Benjamin McNabb, the owner and pharmacist of Love Oak Pharmacy about the value of the pharmacist today.

Dr. McNabb, what do you think the value of a pharmacist is?

Benjamin McNabb: You know, I think the big value of pharmacy, especially community pharmacy, is our community access to medically underserved areas, especially in rural areas like mine. We have limited access to hospitals, urgent care, and primary care, and those patients that have limited access—who do they typically go to?—they go to the pharmacist. And additionally, that pharmacist is available many times a year to chronically ill patients. They're regularly in contact with patients to develop those relationships. A primary care doctor may see their patient 3 and a half times a year, while the community pharmacist is developing that relationship and seeing them upwards of 35 times a year so that a number of touch points can be leveraged to the healthcare system and patient outcomes. I think that pharmacies can do a lot in monitoring and care coordination to improve outcomes, and if we align things appropriately, with the health plans and the primary care and the pharmacy all aligned to improve the patient outcome, there's many more things that a pharmacist can do from month to month managing that patient as part of the team to improve outcomes. And so, I truly believe that pharmacy is completely underutilized, and we're excited for some new upcoming opportunities to be paid within these value-based payment models, and I'm just extremely excited about what we can do to improve care and lower costs.

Alana Hippensteele: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.

Benjamin McNabb: Thank you.