Nationwide, pharmacies are facing a staffing shortage crisis. The problem has led to concerns for patient safety, a fine against CVS, and labor protests against Walgreens in Chicago.
Now the Ohio Board of Pharmacy has released new rules to address pharmacy staffing. The six new rules went into effect May 1. Will they be effective, and can they be enforced when pharmacies are already understaffed?
On Cincinnati Edition, we’ll look at what has led to understaffing, the concerns of pharmacists and patients, and the efforts to address the problem.
Guests:
- Cameron McNamee, director of policy and communications, Ohio Board of Pharmacy
- Sarah Priestle, RPh PharmD, owner and pharmacist in charge, Hart Pharmacy, serves on the Ohio Pharmacists' Association Board of Trustees
- Michael Hegener, PharmD, associate professor, University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy
The University of Cincinnati is a financial supporter of Cincinnati Public Radio.
Cincinnati Edition invited CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens onto the program. CVS sent us this statement:
"We’re well-positioned to comply with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy’s new pharmacy rules which took effect on May 1 and to provide safe, high-quality pharmacy care to our patients.
"We’re committed to ensuring there are appropriate levels of staffing and resources at our pharmacies and are making targeted investments, including enabling teams to schedule additional support as needed, enhancing pharmacist and technician recruitment and hiring, and strengthening pharmacy technician training. We’re also making roughly $1 billion in wage increases for pharmacists between 2021 and 2024 and are also awarding roughly $70 million in bonuses to recognize and thank our pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other frontline colleagues this year. Our goal is to develop a sustainable and scalable action plan that supports our pharmacy teams and our patients so we can continue meeting our patients’ pharmacy care needs.
"To ensure our pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are at their best, we implemented a pre-scheduled, uninterrupted lunch break across our pharmacies in February 2022, more than two years ago. The break gives our CVS Pharmacy teams a predictable and consistent daily pause while minimizing disruption to our patients. Most of our pharmacies nationwide are now closed from 1:30pm-2:00pm local time."
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