Less Than 20% Trust A Pharmacist To Help Them Make Healthcare Decisions – Surprising?

Whenever you go to the pharmacy, they always ask you if you have questions and make you sign off that you were offered counseling.  It begs the question of whether anyone actually does.  I just got this survey data e-mailed to me, and I wanted to share it since it was surprising to me and from RxAlly. 

I also found it surprising that people don’t think their pharmacist can help them make healthcare decisions.  This is certainly relevant in the Medicare world where AARP and others have partnered with pharmacists traditionally.  Additionally, I think it limits some of the longer term opportunities for pharmacy, pharmacists, and PBMs.  I’ve always thought that given their frequency of patient intervention that there would be lots of opportunities to leverage the pharmacist at the POS to close care gaps and be very engaged in the overall care and driving health outcomes. 

Only 15 percent of U.S. adults have ever discussed a medication maintenance regimen with a pharmacist and only 49 percent have discussed any new medication with a pharmacist. Less than 20 percent (18%) of U.S. adults trust a pharmacist most to help guide and inform healthcare decisions for themselves and their families. A majority of people trust their doctor most (72%), followed by friends and family (36%), spouses or significant others (36%) and the internet (22%).

Source: RxAlly
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