When you think about pharmacy, the first thing that comes to mind is data, right?
Admittedly, it’s not my first thought either. But for organizations that are chasing after stronger, more integrated strategies to deliver care to patients, a pharmacy data strategy – and pharmacy partnership with analytics platforms – is often the first area of focus to drive change and deliver stronger outcomes.
The idea of “pharmacy” isn’t just in the terms of where a patient picks up their medication. Rather, pharmacy encompasses a myriad of angles in health care – the pharmaceutical commercialization process, benefits coverage and therapy tiering, drug cost management, distribution regulations – the list could go on and on.
And, as that list expands, so too does the opportunity to solve challenges, and implement technology to improve all aspects of the pharmacy landscape.
Ready to Dive In? First, Let’s Understand Pharmacy
Before diving into areas of opportunity, let’s set the record straight. Already mentioned, it’s crucial that we all view pharmacy in the same manner: it’s not just a counter to pick up your medications. While that’s a part of pharmacy, the term truly does capture hundreds, if not thousands, of additional areas of service.
In communities all around the world, pharmacists on the front line are seen as trusted community members, able to help patients navigate between generic and name-brand therapies, often resulting in significant cost savings.
For health plans, specifically in the US, pharmacies are a strategic area of partnership to drive benefit usage, cost management and utilization, and even prior authorization.
For life sciences organizations, getting your therapy to pharmacy is the equivalent of launching a new product – in fact, it’s very much so the definition of launching a new product. This is where drugs come to patients and where patients see life-changing benefits of medications.
And for health care providers globally, pharmacies are the stockroom by which they rely on to treat patients. Whether a pharmacy is in-house at a hospital, contracted out, or a standalone franchise, the pharmacy cost management, utilization, patient experience strategy, record-keeping, reporting, and benefit contracting (and again, the list goes on) are all crucial parts of delivering care.
So, with that level set, it’s important to understand how we – the collective “we” across health care and life sciences – can help pharmacy improve, with the use of advanced analytics, data, and artificial intelligence.
Here are the top areas of consideration when it comes to applying data and AI into a pharmacy strategy.
1. Mastering Medication Management
Effective medication management is crucial for improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs. Analytics and AI can play a significant role by providing insights into patient adherence, identifying potential drug interactions, and predicting adverse reactions at a person-by-person level. Through predictive analytics, pharmacists can identify patients at risk of non-adherence and intervene proactively to ensure they follow their prescribed regimens.
Moreover, AI-powered tools can analyze vast amounts of data to recommend the most effective treatment plans based on individual patient profiles. This personalized approach not only enhances patient care but also reduces the likelihood of medication errors and adverse events.
2. Supercharging Operational Efficiency
Pharmacies, like any other business, need to operate efficiently to remain viable. Data analytics can help streamline pharmacy operations by identifying bottlenecks, improving staffing decisions, and even optimizing inventory management. For instance, predictive analytics can forecast demand for specific medications, ensuring that pharmacies are well-stocked without wasteful overstocking.
From a staffing perspective, AI-driven automation can handle mundane tasks – prescription refills, billing, inventory management – freeing up pharmacists to focus on complex, patient-facing activities. Remember when I mentioned the level of trust that communities place in their local pharmacies? Imagine how much more engagement a patient would see, and feel, if their pharmacist was able to spend more time in conversation, and less time in administrative burden? This isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about reimagining what a pharmacy can be. It’s about delivering superior service and redefining patient expectations.
3. Revolutionizing Patient Engagement
And, speaking of trust and engagement, patient engagement is the holy grail of health care, and it’s the base expectation of patients. Patients want to trust their pharmacist for expertise and medical advice, but also want fast answers to routine questions. AI-powered chatbots can revolutionize patient interaction, offering instant support for medication queries, appointment scheduling, and refill reminders. But this is just the beginning.
Data and analytics can help identify trends and patterns in patient behavior, enabling pharmacies to tailor their services to meet the specific needs of different patient groups. By offering personalized support and timely interventions, pharmacies can enhance patient satisfaction and adherence, leading to better health outcomes.
The opportunities to increase patient engagement at the pharmacy level are endless.
4. Accelerating Research and Development
Last, but certainly not least, enter clinical trials, drug development, and life sciences at large. If you haven’t noticed yet, a variety of franchise pharmacies are now participating in clinical trials, and reporting data back to clinical research firms and sponsors as they recruit patients for trials.
The real-world evidence from pharmacy data can provide unprecedented insights into drug efficacy and safety, fast-tracking the development of new therapies. At the same time, the data from drugs in market can help alter, adjust, or even improve the commercialization process of medication in market.
From a drug development perspective, AI and machine learning are rocket fuel for R&D. With this technology, we’re now capable of analyzing vast datasets to identify potential drug candidates and optimize clinical trial designs, and even identify drugs for repurposing at record speed. This means faster development, lower costs, and higher success rates.
But the list goes on and on (and on…)
These four initial areas where data and AI can impact pharmacy are just the tip of the iceberg. If we’re truly dedicated to driving better health outcomes, the integration of analytics, data, and AI into pharmacy strategy is not just an opportunity – it’s a mandate.
The health care ecosystem includes a plethora of stakeholders, a wild amount of connections, and layers upon layers of regulation, compliance, guardrails, and more. But the one area that every patient, every member, every health care consumer touches? It’s pharmacy. And because of that, we need to all that we can, in every area that we can, to ensure our technology, data strategy, analytics platforms, and overall partnerships with pharmacy are strong, efficient, and as optimized as possible.
And AI is a strategic tool in getting there.
About Kayt Leonard
Kayt Leonard is a Global Health Care Strategic Advisor at SAS. Prior to joining SAS, Leonard worked across the industry with payers, providers, physicians, and pharmaceutical organizations. Leonard’s research in health equity, disparities, and global health care access has been recognized by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the European Medicines Agency.