ComputerTalk For The Pharmacist

Fortunately, pharmacies use a robust technology platform that keeps them connected with their patient population and insurers, and now steps are being taken to provide this connectivity with other healthcare providers. The technology is largely responsible for pharmacy’s recognition as a main-line health provider player.

The introduction of two vaccines in late 2020, from Pfizer and Moderna, begins the process to hopefully take control of the pandemic and enable life to return to normal. Pharmacists will play a prominent role in the administration of the vaccines. We will focus on the operational challenges likely to be encountered.

Health and fitness apps, particularly those with video workouts, performed strongly in 2020. Although personal health and wellness have always been important, 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic may have made both mental and physical wellness more important than ever. Apps can provide training and serve as tools for tracking, thereby making target health behaviors easier to do.

The federal government’s five-year strategic plan for health information technology (HIT) was released two months ago, continuing efforts toward creating a health system that uses information to engage individuals, lower costs, deliver high-quality healthcare, and improve individual and population health.

COVID-19 has been (and continues to be) the great disruptor. It has driven the relaxation of regulations to allow cross-state practice by healthcare professionals, a decade worth of telemedicine advancements in six months, and pharma’s new perception as a critical player in public health. Now, might the impending COVID-19 vaccine drive the development of systems that allow pharmacies to submit adverse event data related to the vaccine in an efficient manner that integrates with existing workflow?