Walgreens’ New Hybrid Pharmacist Model Explained | Fast Five Shorts

Walgreens has introduced what it's calling a first of its kind hybrid pharmacist role, allowing pharmacists to split their time between in store work and centralized settings.

I can tell you from firsthand experience this is a really, really important story, according to Chainsaw, as the role has launched in Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

With strong early feedback from participating pharmacists.

The program directly addresses a growing workforce crisis.

One found nearly 90% of of pharmacists are at risk of burnout.

One study found.

I should say that nearly 90% of pharmacists are at risk for burnout.

On centralized days, hybrid pharmacists review prescriptions, provide clinical support, and consult with patients and providers over phone and email, freeing in store pharmacists for direct patient care, immunizations and medication counseling.

Walgreens describes the benefits as predictable schedules, expanded career pathways, and varied practice settings without leaving direct patient care behind.

Cassie, you talked about this at the outset.

Does Walgreens hybrid pharmacist model single signal a broader reimagination of how health and wellness retail roles need to evolve, or is it actually a canary in the coal mine for the structural issues facing pharmacy retailing?

Better you than me.

Yes.

So Chris, I think it's a little bit of both.

So yes, there, there is a direct response that they need to have to this structural change.

But also, you know, this is something where there's been a lot of talk of how we can address this and you can't go forward either way.

And so let's, let's try a few options here.

So as I mentioned earlier, so I've spent a lot of time actually in pharmacies observing pharmacists, and I have seen firsthand the burnout and, you know, trying to figure out a number of solutions with, you know, how we can address this.

And so definitely that 90% of pharmacists are at risk, you know, really resonates with me.

And I think there's also, you know, a larger structural issue here because we don't even have enough pharmacists that are going through pharmacy school to fill the number of roles that are available.

So there's even a competition, there's, you know, signing bonuses out there for people to switch change.

So there's a lot of pressures in the industry right now and what we've been doing in the past really isn't working.

But also the nature of how customers are interacting with their pharmacies has changed as well.

So that the two combined, there is really saying, you have a broken pipeline, but we have a changing customer.

You know, how do we, you know, address this?

Because the people who are staying are really running on fumes in the pharmacy.

And that's not, not what we want to be seeing.

So I think that, you know, Walgreens is saying, we see the issue, we want to do something to address it.

It's more of a business model problem than just a scheduling problem or having the right people at the right time.

It's much larger than that.

And also the economics of traditional pharmacy are obviously changing.

We have more central fill, we have other players coming in.

And so they really have to address both at the same time to keep up, I think.

And so to keep their pharmacists happy to be able to make sure that they can continue to keep their workforce going.

I think this hybrid model does make sense.

It gives them a bit of relief.

So you have your, your in store time when you're really talking to patients, working that and then the more predictable central fill or anything like that.

And they're actually able at the same time to be moving a lot more of their scripts to a central fill location either to then to be delivered to stores and picked up or delivered right to you at your home.

So they're really rebuilding this operating model.

And so I think, yes, they're trying to have a bandaid on.

We have a workforce issue, but also we have to at the same time be moving what we're doing.

And so I think one of the big watch outs here though is is this actually going to improve retention with Walgreens?

And so is this, you know, like I said, a band aid for them and we're going to actually see them, you know, short term might work, but then we see these pharmacists, oh, okay.

I have better opportunities somewhere else because it's really not addressing what my true, you know, root cause issues are or is this going to be enough?

And so we'll see other players maybe following suit and saying that like, we would like to, you know, model this as well.

So I think time will tell if this is enough of a fix, but I think it is the right move for them right now to be kind of dual pathing.

Let's address what our workforce is telling us and saying they're burnt out.

How can we address this?

But also, let's change our model a bit.

Yeah, that's a really interesting point that I've never thought about that you're getting my head thinking about too.

Cassie is like, pharmacists are really expensive too, in general, as average employees, especially for a Walgreens.

So you start thinking about, is it actually smart to push delivery of prescriptions for this reason, give people a big cost break because hiring them is expensive.

Retaining them is expensive.

Getting people to fill in when they're not showing up for work is even more expensive.

So, like, have you been involved, I'm curious, have you been involved in any conversations like that in terms of the economics of how these models work?

Yeah, so there's, there's a lot of talk about.

So you have your technicians in the pharmacy, then you have your pharmacists, Obviously, you know, 3x maybe difference between the two there.

And so the more you can actually push to the centralized the locations that where some of these, you know, the hybrid model will have more pharmacists working at these.

They have more automation in them.

But then they also obviously need a pharmacist role there.

Despite it being automated.

It really is a very different setting for them than the constant.

You know, I don't think everyone's always the most friendly.

Sometimes what I've seen as their patients walking up to get their prescriptions and everyone there is stretched thin.

And so being able to balance, that gives them the time where a lot of them are very excited also about being patient focused and being patient forward.

So they want some of that time, but then also a little bit of breathing time on the back end.

But we want to make sure when we're working with them that the technicians are also their most productive.

So being able to balance the two of that there.

So then you have your brick and mortar that's running the most efficiently and then you supplement that with what can actually go through the more automated central fill.

You need to figure out that right balance.

But there is a big labor trade off there.

Yeah, those are, those are amazing points because I can attest to it firsthand.

You know, being a district manager for Target, the pharmacists were hands down the most stressed out people in my entire workforce.

And it's because the reasons you said, and there's also another reason I would add in there too.

There's a high likelihood that as a pharmacist, you might have a gun pointed in your face at some time, which is a really real factor.

Like this happened to me.

Like I, my wife was in labor and I got a call saying one of my pharmacists just got held up at gunpoint.

Like it's a real thing that happens.

And so if you can put them in A location where they can just do what they like to do, which is fill prescriptions, you know, and, and do that well and do that quickly and do that fast.

Like, there's probably a psychological benefit to this too.

So that's why I, I a hundred percent applaud this move.

And I think it's where the industry needs to go more in general.

And also to your point, Cassie, I personally love getting my Walgreens prescription delivered.

The, the issue for me is that can I get it fast enough?

Right, because you generally need your prescriptions really fast enough and right now it's still a little costly or I'm not confident in the delivery time to, to do it as often as I would like to.

But Joanna, what do you think here?

I think you both are absolutely right.

I think that the structural challenges that exist require leaning into something like a hybrid model just to start addressing.

I also think that the scope of practice that pharmacists are being asked to perform has continued to increase.

It's not just understanding your new prescription and helping counsel you all on any existing prescriptions and how they may interact or not, but now we're going into immunizations and we're going into other consults.

And so as a result of that, there does have to be a bit of a relief valve here for these folks.

And I think that addressing that through something like a hybrid, I think naming it is also interesting because this isn't a new trend.

When we think about accessibility to pharmacy care and coverage in more rural areas, we've been seeing more of a balance of sort of this digital mixed with in person, it just wasn't called hybrid pharmacists.

And so I think that we're moving into giving it a name, giving it more legitimacy behind what I actually love about your question, Chris, which is reimagine feels like the right word.

You know, fundamentally the role of a pharmacist and things like compounding medications, like, isn't going to change, but the extent experience that we have with them and what we're doing face to face versus digitally is going to evolve.

And so it does feel like the experience is changing to address both structural as well as just overall patient need.

And then of course, the pharmacist need that you were mentioning from, you know, all of their stress and the ability to provide the right support for them to be effective.

Yeah, those are great points to close on too.

Like, does the pharmacist role evolve here with technology as well?

Like, do we need as much direct, direct face to face interaction with the pharmacist day in and day out, when we can get the information we need in so many different ways or through so many different vehicles.