The new role of the pharmacist — beyond dispensing

Adam James, PharmD, a manager of immunization and clinical programs at CVS, and Ashley McPhillips, PharmD, a pharmacy manager at CVS in the Boston area and district emerging leader with 17 years of community pharmacy experience, discuss how the pharmacist’s role has expanded well beyond dispensing prescriptions. McPhillips explains that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when physicians were less accessible, patients increasingly turned to pharmacists for everyday health questions, immunizations, and chronic disease management. She points out that with approximately 95% of Americans living within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, pharmacists are positioned to prevent unnecessary urgent care visits and are now authorized to prescribe hormonal birth control in many states, further expanding patient access to care.

The conversation also centers on the growing role of at-home testing, including options such as Cologuard, urinary tract infection (UTI) tests, and at-home fertility testing, and how pharmacists help patients select the right test and interpret results. McPhillips emphasizes that a pharmacist's value does not lie within administering the test itself but in counseling patients through what results mean and whether additional care (eg, physician referral or telehealth visit) is needed. James adds that having concrete data from at-home tests allows pharmacists to give more informed, actionable guidance than general advice alone.

Both James and McPhillips agree that at-home testing can be a more cost-effective and accessible alternative to traditional care pathways, particularly for conditions like UTIs, helping patients avoid costly emergency room visits or barriers related to transportation. From there, McPhillips says that pharmacists can recommend appropriate over-the-counter products once results are known. The pharmacists frame proactive counseling, patient follow-up, and relationship-building as central to the profession's evolving role as a frontline primary care resource in their communities.