This is an updated slide deck discussing what students should consider when starting a career in community pharmacy practice. There really are a lot of opportunities if pharmacists are willing to do what it takes to succeed.

1. Future of Pharmacy
Things to consider when starting a career in
community practice
David Holdford, RPh, MS, PhD
Professor, School of Pharmacy
Virginia Commonwealth University

2. There are few guarantees in life

3. Every choice you make is a gamble

4. Your chances improve by understanding
the healthcare market and major trends
influencing it

5. Knowledge helps you distinguish
opportunities from threats

6. What is my future
in community
pharmacy?
Opportunities
Personal &
professional
growth
Work that doesn’t
feel like work
Threats
Obsolescence
Drudgery

7. Is this how you
want to feel about
your pharmacy
career?

8. Isn’t this more
like it?

9. You may not be able to change the
future, but you can prepare yourself to
adapt to it

10. This presentation will…
Describe major trends influencing community pharmacy practice in the US
and Worldwide
Identify potential futures for community pharmacists
Suggest strategies to thrive in a dynamic pharmacy business environment

11. Where we are today

13. Community Pharmacy Practice is under pressure
The current business model is facing…
Shrinking dispensing fees
Lower product reimbursement
Higher performance expectations

14. Reasons for pressure on community pharmacy
Tightening healthcare budgets
Greater competition
Evolving channels of distribution and finance
Changes in consumer demand

15. JAMANovember13,2013Volume310,Number18,pg1951

16. JAMANovember13,2013Volume310,Number18,pg1951
18 cents of every dollar in
America is spent on healthcare
instead of transportation,
education, food, housing, leisure,
and other consumption. Only 7
cents was spent in 1970.

17. JAMANovember13,2013Volume310,Number18,pg1951
No other industrial country in the
world spends more than 12
cents of every dollar on
healthcare.

18. JAMANovember13,2013Volume310,Number18,pg1951
And they get better health
outcomes.

19. ?

20. Reasons
Tightening healthcare budgets
Greater competition
Evolving channels of distribution and finance
Changes in consumer demand

22. Consolidation
of Pharmacy
Industry

23. Reasons
Tightening healthcare budgets
Greater competition
Evolving channels of distribution and finance
Changes in consumer demand

24. Telepharmacy

25. Baxter
ATMDispensing&Robots

26. Moby is a solar-powered market on wheels that actually helps the
environment by filtering smoggy air. It’s also packed with artificial
intelligence, it features drone delivery, and it’s open round-the-clock
without staffing.

27. Reasons
Tightening healthcare budgets
Greater competition
Evolving channels of distribution and finance
Changes in consumer demand

30. The aging population
Unmet demand for primary care
practitioners = more opportunities
Healthcare is moving from
hospitals to the community
Specialty drugs are becoming a
larger portion of spending
Adherence and persistence with
medications is still a problem
Interprofessional care is more
accepted
Underinsured
Margins eroding on generics
Consolidation in the healthcare
industry
Trend toward limited pharmacy
networks
PositiveTrends
NegativeTrends

31. Possible futures

32. Indentured
Servitude
Retail Hub
Pharmacy
Phactory
Gig
Economy
Relational
Transactional
Production Line
Approach to Service
Empowerment
Approach to Service

33. Indentured Servitude: Pharmacists are trapped in
contracts serving their PBM Overlords

34. Pharmacy Phactory
Pharmacists work in assembly line
conditions like mail order

35. The Gig Economy – Pharmacists work PRN

36. Gig example: Working at home at low pay & unpredictable
hours serving customers at ATM dispensing machines

37. https://www.aspenrxhealth.com/

38. Wellness
products &
services
Medication
Therapy
Management
Coordinating
with health
care
providers
Managing
insurance &
financing
Diagnostics &
point-of-care
testing
Retail Hub
Source:PwCHealthResearchInstitute,“Thecoming
plug-and-playhealthecosystem,”2015.

39. Retail Hub
In this future, pharmacies provide a platform or “health hub” that serves
customers. The retail pharmacy hub can link employers, local health system,
pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics companies, insurers, and other
healthcare stakeholders to help patients get and/or stay well.
An alternative model is one where hospitals serve as the hub.
Source:PwCHealthResearchInstitute,“Thecoming
plug-and-playhealthecosystem,”2015.

40. Source:PwCHealthResearchInstitute,“Thecoming
plug-and-playhealthecosystem,”2015.
Community pharmacies can compete
In very large markets as hubs

42. Opportunities
in Community
Pharmacy
Practice
https://www.marsdd.com/news-and-insights/transforming-health-decentralized-connected-care/

43. Spectrum of Quality
and Cost:
Pharmacists can find
opportunities across
the spectrum of care
https://www.marsdd.com/news-and-insights/transforming-health-decentralized-connected-care/

44. Future Job Opportunities in
Community Pharmacy

45. Will technology replace
pharmacists?
Answer: Probably some, but not all

46. empxtrack.com

47. empxtrack.com

48. Technology is more likely to replace
average & below average
pharmacists
Pharmacists are at risk who fail to add value to
healthcare

49. More skills are
needed
Many new pharmacists are
graduating with these skills
Skills &
Training
Needed in
pharmacy
Clinical Skills
Practice
Management
Oral & Written
Communi-
cations
Assess & Add
to Evidence
Base
Working in
Teams
Automation &
Technology
Diagnostics
Epidemiology
& Pharmaco-
economics
Pharmaco-
genomics

50. The future is uncertain
Pharmacy students and pharmacists can increase their opportunities by observing
major trends and adapting to them
Those who do not adapt are at risk

51. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-things-everyone-should-do-
while-theyre-college-eg-school-holdford/