At-Home Testing as a Catalyst for Better Pharmacy Care: A Pharmacist’s Guide to Supporting Patients Beyond the Counter

CVS pharmacists expand into frontline care, guiding immunizations, birth control prescribing, and at-home tests like UTIs and fertility to steer patients toward timely, cost-effective treatment.

James and McPhillips unpack the everyday barriers that keep patients from addressing health concerns and make the case for at-home testing as a way around those barriers, then turn to how pharmacists can improve their counseling once a patient shows up with results in hand.

The conversation centers on colorectal cancer screening, at-home COVID and flu testing, and fertility testing, with McPhillips and James stressing that pharmacists shouldn't shy away from uncomfortable conversations or treat self-tests as a substitute for further care.

James and McPhillips share specific patient cases where at-home testing changed clinical outcomes — an undiagnosed colorectal cancer catch and a same-day COVID-to-Paxlovid intervention — before pivoting toward the business case for offering these services.

McPhillips and James make the business case for at-home testing as a win-win for patients and pharmacies, and close with advice for pharmacists hesitant to add self-testing counseling to their workflow.