The Pharmacy Trends That Will Shape the Rest of 2017
Where is the practice of pharmacy heading as we move further into 2017? Here are a few of the trends.
Programs for addressing antibiotic-resistant strains of microbes.
New regulations from CMS and the Joint Commission mandate that all healthcare organizations need to put in place initiatives to prevent the spread of bacteria that are resistant to most forms of antibiotics. The antimicrobial stewardship programs need to be up and running in 2017.
The spread of these types of bacteria has been causing a great deal of concern in the healthcare industry. In fact, some clinical experts are saying that overprescribing antibiotics is a bigger healthcare issue than the opioid epidemic because of the resistance of the bacteria.
Controlling the cost of medications.
Another trend taking hold this year is the push to stem the rising cost of medications. Pharmacists are enlisting the help of technology to monitor and address the cost problem, using the technology to find generic or biosimilar alternatives of high priced drugs or to look at drugs that are being overprescribed.
Greater integration of pharmacists into primary care teams.
Pharmacists who are incorporated into primary care teams can provide valuable assistance with key provisions of patient care, such as medication reconciliation, discharge counseling and managing chronic diseases.
Pharmacists also play an important role in creating clinical programs that help to enhance patient outcomes while controlling costs.
Improving the operation of pharmacies.
As technology becomes more sophisticated, it enables pharmacists to make their workflows more efficient and increase the safety of patients, trends that will continue this year. The advances in technology have enabled clinical decision support services to aid in pharmacy operations. These services offer access to telepharmacy services, web-based systems for the management of medication orders and other business applications and technology integration.
Health system pharmacy trends.
These include growth in specialty pharmacy areas, increased use of data analytics to track drug spending, drug use and patient care, using this information to make better and more informed business decisions and centralizing pharmacy operations through the use of telepharmacy.
Where will your pharmacy career go in 2017?
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