Provision of Patient Care Services and Goals for Expansion in Community and Ambulatory Care Pharmacies in Southeastern North Carolina

In February 2022, the North Carolina legislature expanded pharmacist dispensing authority without a prescription. We conducted a cross-sectional interview of currently licensed pharmacy managers of outpatient pharmacies located in five counties in southeastern North Carolina. Pharmacy managers were eligible to participate if their pharmacy was either a community pharmacy, clinic-based pharmacy, or outpatient health system pharmacy. Forty-four of 116 eligible pharmacy managers participated (38% response rate). The most common services offered by pharmacies included medication synchronization services (93.2%), on-site immunizations (90.9%), and refill reminders (88.6%). The least common services offered include INR screens (0%), A1c screens (7%), and 'incident-to' billing services associated with CPT codes: annual wellness visits (0%), chronic care management (0%), transitional care management (0%), and remote patient monitoring (2.4%). The services that pharmacy managers wanted to learn more about through continuing education included: oral/transdermal contraceptives (60.5%), administration of long-acting injectables (LAIs) (36.8%), and dispensing of HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) (23.7%).

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Community-Based Pharmacies: A Scoping Review

As pharmacy practice shifts its focus toward population health care needs that serve public health, there is a need to understand community-based pharmacies' contributions to the reduction in health disparities. A scoping review was conducted to identify what community-based pharmacies in the United States are doing to target racial and ethnic disparities in community-based pharmacies. Forty-two articles revealed that community-based pharmacy services addressed racial and ethnic inequities in a variety of ways, including the types of interventions employed, as well as the ethnicities and conditions of the sample populations. Future work should focus on ensuring interventions are carried out throughout pharmacy practice and accessible to all racial and ethnic minoritized populations.