Opinion: Pharmacists Are Critical to Ensure Safe, Ethical Integration of AI in Health Care

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant possibility. It is already changing how medications are prescribed, dispensed, and monitored. From predicting adverse drug events to automating operational workflows, AI is steadily working its way into the enhancement of pharmacy practice.

For many pharmacists, AI may still feel like something happening to the profession rather than with it. But as decisions about AI design and deployment are happening now, pharmacists need a seat at the table to ensure patients receive optimal care, particularly when medications are involved.

Pharmacists have both the clinical knowledge and the ethical responsibility to guide safe adoption of AI in medication management. We are best positioned to ensure technology improves medication use. We can identify where errors might occur, and we understand how workflows really function.

AI Succeeds When Pharmacists are Engaged

According to an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) statement on the use of AI in pharmacy, pharmacists must take an active role in validating and continuously monitoring AI tools used in health care.¹ The statement emphasizes that pharmacists should be ready to override AI when necessary; demand transparency and comprehensibility; ensure bias is addressed; and help shape the policies, governance, and workforce training that guide AI integration.

Pharmacists are beginning to embrace these essential roles, and the transition is supported by resources and case studies provided by ASHP through its Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Resource Center and other initiatives.^1,2

For example, pharmacists provided crucial input to the multidisciplinary team that developed an effective delirium risk stratification tool at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.³ The tool achieved a 4-fold increase in delirium detection and also led to a significant reduction in the use of antipsychotics and other high-risk medications as a result of the pharmacists’ medication expertise.

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians at UCSF Health in San Francisco led the development of a fax-processing tool using the health system’s large language models. This new tool processed more than 19,000 faxes in the first month of deployment with a 99.5% accuracy rate.⁴

ASHP Resources Support Pharmacists’ AI Engagement

Pharmacists already manage demanding workloads and patient responsibilities, which can make it difficult to devote time to AI initiatives or learn new skills. Even so, the AI revolution is advancing, and being an observer isn’t an option, especially when medications are central to nearly every aspect of health care.

To support pharmacists’ engagement, ASHP’s Resource Center offers members a growing collection of knowledge- and skills-building material. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can learn about AI in bite-sized time chunks through podcasts and articles. Webinars and publications, including journal articles, provide deeper dives into various facets of AI in pharmacy.

In addition, ASHP this year began offering the Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy Certificate to provide practitioners with practical knowledge and skills needed to understand and adapt to AI’s growing influence.

ASHP’s first Summit on AI in Pharmacy Practice at the Pharmacy Futures 2024 conference gave pharmacists a head start on understanding and applying AI in health care.⁵ The 2025 meeting built on that momentum, offering practical strategies and real-world examples to help pharmacists take an active role in AI adoption, and plans are underway to provide additional opportunities to explore the topic in 2026.

The Future Is Now

AI is here to stay, and the pharmacy profession has both the opportunity and responsibility to shape its future in health care. Fortunately, learning to work with AI is possible for every pharmacist.

ASHP will continue to press health-system leaders to ensure pharmacists are at the table in designing and implementing AI-powered resources. Just as patient care is inadequate without a pharmacist, AI in health care will be lacking without our expertise.

REFERENCES

1. Bastow S, Greszler C, Hartell E, et al. ASHP statement on artificial intelligence in pharmacy. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2025;82(19):e853-e858. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxaf107

2. Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Resource Center. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.ashp.org/pharmacy-practice/resource-centers/digital-health-and-artificial-intelligence?loginreturnUrl=SSOCheckOnly

3. Leveraging AI to reduce use of deliriogenic medications. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.ashp.org/pharmacy-practice/resource-centers/digital-health-and-artificial-intelligence/ai-case-studies/mount-sinai-health-system

4. Project cable car: pharmacy fax classification. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.ashp.org/pharmacy-practice/resource-centers/digital-health-and-artificial-intelligence/ai-case-studies/ucsf-health

5. Luchen GG, Fera T, Anderson SV, Chen D. Pharmacy futures: summit on artificial intelligence in pharmacy practice. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2024;81(24):1327-1343. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxae279