Total Pharmacy September 2023, Volume 1 Issue 4, Fred Gebhart
Pharmacists Work to Sustain Care in Health Care Deserts
When rural areas lose hospitals and primary care clinics, residents must turn to pharmacies to receive the care they need. Health care deserts, which are areas with poor access to hospitals, clinics, primary care, and other health care services, are a growing problem. As the US population ages and shifts to more urban and suburban settings, rural areas are losing health care access. (…) Dima M. Qato, PharmD, MPH, PhD advised pharmacies to expand their hours of operation and boost their inventories. “It is critical to ensure that medications that [patients] can’t wait [for], such as naloxone, buprenorphine, contraception, and some cardiovascular and diabetes medications, are always in stock,” she said. “Urgent medications, EpiPens, and insulin should always be available, as well as [medications for] chronic diseases. Patients can’t afford to travel tens of miles only to be told to come back the next day or in 3 days because something isn’t in stock. They’re going to end up in an emergency [department] if they’re lucky.”
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