The Price of COVID-19 for Pharmacies

By Gary Rutherford, RPh
In these unprecedented times, the tentacles of the COVID-19 pandemic seem to be endless, including how it may affect pharmacy benefit plans and the providers who serve the patients using the benefit plans. There is much uncertainty around the development of a vaccine, handling drug shortages, and finding effective drug therapies in treating acutely ill patients.

In these circumstances, many pharmacy providers, physicians and health systems are facing a financial crisis. The market has adjusted in an effort to improve patient service through increased mail-order pharmacy and telemedicine, but can we be sure that quality of care has been maintained? Patient care is complex, most communication is nonverbal, and there isn’t a formula for care that fits every patient. Discovering a patient’s underlying health problems is more art than science, making it very difficult to accomplish over the phone or on a computer screen. Utilization of the health care system for chronic disease is down, which will result in delayed treatment for critical conditions.