Kroger Health President on the Future of Pharmacies and Their IT Infrastructure

Colleen Lindholz is president of Kroger Health, where she leads a team of 22,000 healthcare practitioners who serve more than 13 million customers across the U.S.

She was instrumental in leading Kroger's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular fostering access to vaccines and combating vaccine hesitancy. To date, Kroger has administered more than 4.7 million COVID vaccines.

The organization launched $1 million giveaways and groceries for a year to increase vaccination rates. In 2022, Kroger won the American Pharmacists Association Immunization Champion Award, in recognition of high COVID-19 vaccine rates across their communities.

Lindholz is in a unique position to talk about the state of healthcare today, which is why Healthcare IT News sat down with her for an interview.

In this discussion, she talks about her beliefs about a need for pharmacy-specific tools incorporated into EHRs and population health platforms for more holistic, coordinated care, the future role of pharmacists in healthcare, why burnout is a growing problem among pharmacists, strategies pharmacies can apply to combat burnout and the growing role pharmacists play in population health.

Q. You contend there is a critical need for pharmacy-specific tools incorporated into EHRs and pop health platforms for more holistic, coordinated care. Please elaborate.

A. For decades, acute and post-acute clinicians have had access to EHRs to help coordinate care and make informed decisions to drive positive care outcomes. These tools have been designed for the unique needs of physicians, nurses, etc. – many of whom have worked in collaboration with the vendors and software designers to create a tool that fits their needs and workflow.

The pharmacy space lacks tailored tools that meet their unique needs. While pharmacists are a fundamental component to the care continuum, they have not historically been viewed as caregivers.

The perception is pharmacists only dispense medication. This perception is inaccurate. The COVID pandemic, for example, was a key influencer in shifting the mindset of the critical role pharmacists play. They are trusted, accessible and highly trained care providers who have the skillset to provide care well beyond medication dispensing.

However, in order for pharmacists to maximize their potential as caregivers, they need to be armed with the tools that fit their unique workflows and enable them to capture a 360-degree view of the patient to support the physicians that are overseeing their care.

If pharmacists have the patient information at their fingertips, they have the potential to support patients in their community with many population health efforts, such as obesity, smoking cessation, family planning, chronic diseases and other important care areas.

Q. What do you see as the future role of pharmacists in healthcare, and what about them leveraging technology innovations to increase revenue streams from services provided?

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