By Garry Marshall, Senior Director of Pharmacy Strategy, Wolters Kluwer Health
LinkedIn: Garry Marshall
LinkedIn: Wolters Kluwer Health
Speak to most retail pharmacists, and you will likely hear about how incredibly difficult the job is right now. However, many pharmacy leaders are looking to artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential solution. And they are correct in doing so. Implemented correctly and responsibly, AI can finally give pharmacists their time back and improve job satisfaction by bringing them back to the mission they once had of helping patients.
Before looking at how this can happen, we need to understand why pharmacists are facing challenges.
Burnout in the profession is not a new issue, but it has recently reached alarming levels. Pharmacies are asking their teams to do more with less staff. In fact, a recent American Pharmacists Association (APhA) report on well-being highlights that excessive workloads and administrative burdens drive severe stress among pharmacy teams. Simply put, there are not enough hours in the day to manage workflow and provide the level of clinical care patients deserve.
Retail pharmacies also experience crushing financial pressure as they battle lower reimbursement rates, complicated pharmacy benefit manager practices, and rising operational costs. Recent data by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) illustrates how many independent pharmacies struggle to keep their doors open due to these economic constraints. Ultimately, this underscores the need for solutions that streamline workflows and unlock new revenue opportunities to remain sustainable.
At the same time, the healthcare ecosystem expects more from retail pharmacies. Research points to a well-documented primary care physician shortage. During these times, patients increasingly turn to their local pharmacies for clinical services. Pharmacists are expanding into vaccines, A1C testing, and blood pressure monitoring. They want to lean into these clinical services but need the capacity to do so.
In my personal experience, when I talk about AI in the pharmacy, I often hear a mix of cautious hope. Because this is a highly regulated, high-stakes environment, a mistake in a pharmacy can have severe consequences. Patient health information cannot just be turned over to an unverified algorithm.
Responsible AI recognizes these challenges and manages risks by ensuring:
- Clinically vetted source content
- Expert oversight of content – not just a “human-in-the-loop,” but professional clinicians who can validate accuracy and appropriateness
- A phased, risk‑appropriate deployment (with clear guardrails and monitoring)
When implementing AI in a pharmacy setting, the best place to start is within the medication-filling workflow. AI can handle many of the nonclinical steps that slow pharmacists down. Think about simple data entry; AI can automate this entirely.
Soon, we will see this technology progress to more sophisticated tasks like contextual drug use review screening and pill image verification.
However, it’s important to emphasize that automating these steps doesn’t replace the pharmacist. Instead, it keeps pharmacists in an oversight role while freeing up technicians and appointment capacity, so the pharmacy team can focus more time on high-value work like clinical judgment, patient education, and trust-building with patients.
Once AI automates the dispensing workflow, pharmacists have the bandwidth to actually counsel their patients meaningfully.
Additionally, AI can review a patient profile against a library of clinically validated content to recommend highly specific counseling points. For example, if a patient receives a prescription known to deplete certain nutrients, the AI tool can flag this. It can then prompt the pharmacist to recommend a specific over-the-counter supplement.
This approach can lead to better patient outcomes through more meaningful conversations and clearer guidance. It can also add value to the pharmacy through potential add-on offerings. For example, if a drug is being dispensed and may cause a vitamin deficiency, the pharmacist can suggest ways to counter it with an over-the-counter product.
To make this vision of AI work, AI must rely on evidence-based content. However, many consumers have concerns about AI in healthcare. A recent survey by CHAI showed that 93% of those surveyed report at least one concern about its use. By building their AI on trusted content developed by experts, the pharmacy industry can help reduce those concerns.
When pharmacy staff have access to information they trust, it gives them the confidence to practice at the top of their license. They can confidently offer new clinical services because they know they have the right guidance at their fingertips.
Ultimately, this comes down to differentiation. Pharmacies want to provide a best-in-class patient experience. When we use evidence-based technology to remove the busy work, we can focus on what truly matters. Pharmacists can step out from behind the counter, engage with their community, and drive differentiation through a best-in-class customer approach.