Health systems are increasingly turning to automation, AI and centralized fulfillment models to address pharmacist shortages, space limitations and rising operational demands.
A recent panel discussion at Becker’s 2025 Fall Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit, moderated by Tom Utech, PharmD, iA CEO, featured pharmacy leaders from Mayo Clinic, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Shields Health Solutions, who shared how technology is transforming pharmacy workflows and why innovation must be tied directly to patient outcomes.
Here are four key takeaways from the session:
1. Technology enables growth
As demand for specialty and outpatient pharmacy services grows, leaders are relying on automation to expand access without expanding footprint. At University of Chicago Medicine, pharmacy services have seen 20 percent year-over-year growth. But with hiring challenges and limited space, technology has become a lifeline.
“We need people to do people’s work,” said Denise Scarpelli, PharmD, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at University of Chicago. “We have a central fill facility, and we use robotics to do most of the fulfillment for us, so techs can do some of the other patient care services.”
2. Reconnecting with Patients
Johns Hopkins has leveraged automation to reassign pharmacist roles toward more direct patient engagement. By centralizing phone calls, transcription and prescription fulfillment, pharmacists are now stationed at the front of outpatient pharmacies rather than behind the counter.
“All it took was moving our pharmacist to the front register,” said Kris Rusinko, PharmD, executive director of pharmacy services at Johns Hopkins Care at Home. “Just moving what our pharmacist FTEs are doing and allowing them to provide an actual patient-centric care model we improved throughput and helped the pharmacy.”
3. Supporting high-risk patients
Pharmacy leaders are using predictive analytics and machine learning to personalize care and allocate resources more effectively. Shields Health Solutions, which partners with more than 80 health systems, is piloting a risk stratification model that’s already shifting how pharmacists prioritize outreach.
“We’ve been able to shift 300-plus hours of pharmacist time to high-risk patients,” said Jennifer Donovan, PharmD, vice president of clinical services at Shields. “We’re also seeing we can reduce calls to low-risk patients by 67 percent, while maintaining high quality and outcomes.”
4. Innovation must be intentional and inclusive
For Mayo Clinic, technology decisions begin with a focus on the patient journey and are vetted for alignment with broader care models. Leaders there are building care pathway analytics that use pharmacy and clinical data to anticipate patient needs before prescriptions are even written.
“We don’t look at technology as the goal,” said Jordan Haag, PharmD, associate chief pharmacy officer at Mayo Clinic. “We really look at how this technology becomes an enabler of care transformation so that we can use our people in new and creative ways.”
Panelists emphasized that creating a culture of innovation also means empowering frontline staff, seeking co-creative vendor partnerships, and giving teams room to experiment.
“Don’t let perfection impede progress,” Dr. Donovan said. “Progress is a good indicator of success. And to allow that curiosity to feed that culture is really valuable.”
The post Empowering pharmacists: Technology’s role in shaping the future of pharmacy appeared first on Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
Source: Read Original Article
