The American Medical Association (AMA) has been consistently outspoken against proposed legislation looking to authorize pharmacists to leverage test results to directly diagnose patients. AMA warns that such “scope creep” is detrimental to patient health because an isolated lab test depicts only a snapshot of overall health, which is not enough to determine treatment. AMA stresses that pharmacists are not trained to diagnose patients, and it has defeated pharmacist-prescribing proposals in Alabama and Louisiana. Pushing back, the American Pharmacists Association defended its stance on expanding the scope of services of pharmacists recently and minced no words in calling the AMA “a bully” and “completely disconnected from reality.”
Sounds familiar: Calls for pharmacists to be enabled to practice at the top of their license echoes the same messages coming from nurse practitioners and physician assistants. With high levels of burnout among physicians and more demand than supply of medical services, it will be interesting to witness the industry dynamics play out. There are obvious clinical, practical, economical, and political aspects to the landscape. Read more from the JUCM archive: Prescribing Pharmacists: Cheaper And More Accessible Than Urgent Care?
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- Impact Of A Pharmacist-Provided Comprehensive Medication Review Service For Urgent Care Patients
- Pharmacists With Prescribing Privileges: A New Class Of Medical Practitioner