The development of telepharmacies throughout the country began in North Dakota in 2001 as North Dakota was the first state to pass administrative rules allowing retail pharmacies to operate in certain remote areas without requiring a pharmacist to be present.
The North Dakota Telepharmacy Project www.ndsu.edu/telepharmacy is a collaboration of the NDSU College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences www.ndsu.edu/pharmacy, North Dakota Board of Pharmacy www.nodakpharmacy.com, and the North Dakota Pharmacists Association www.nodakpharmacy.net.
According to the “Third Biennial Report: Health Issues for the State of North Dakota 2015”, www.med.und.edu/about-us/_files/docs/third-biennial-report.pdf, 38 of the state’s 53 counties are involved with the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project.
Many remote sites are in communities where the central pharmacy closed in many cases because of retirement and as a result, there are remote sites in communities that have not had a pharmacy for many years.
As of 2014, there are 81 pharmacies involved in the Telepharmacy Project including 25 central pharmacy sites and 56 remote telepharmacy locations. Of the 81 sites, 53 are retail pharmacies, and 28 are hospital pharmacies plus two Minnesota sites are involved. The Telepharmacy Project not only provides valuable access to healthcare in rural frontier areas of the state, but has also added $26.5 million in economic development to local rural economies.
A licensed pharmacist at a central pharmacy site supervises a registered pharmacy technician at a remote telepharmacy site via video-conferencing technology. This enables the technician to prepare the prescription drug for dispensing under supervision of the pharmacist. All parties involved communicate face-to-face in real-time through audio and video computer links.
The rural community Arco located in Butte County Idaho lost their only community pharmacist when the local pharmacist retired. This now means that Arco’s next closest pharmacy is located in Blackfoot Idaho, nearly 60 miles away.
To meet the needs of the community, Bengal Pharmacy owned by the Idaho State University (ISU) Foundation www.isu.edu/foundation opened their first full service telepharmacy this year in Arco Idaho. The pharmacy in partnership with the Lost Rivers Medical Center, www.lostriversmedical.com uses technology to provide critical healthcare access to rural communities while also providing hands-on experience for ISU’s pharmacy students.
The telepharmacy is staffed with a pharmaceutical technologist and ISU pharmacy residents that are constantly video supervised by a licensed pharmacist located at the Bengal Pharmacy on the ISU campus in Pocatello where patients can receive private consultations with the pharmacist using video technology.
In Florida, a program was initiated to help patients review their medications. Today, the Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Call Center at the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy http://mtmccc.pharmacy.ufl.edu/services, has pharmacists and students on clinical rotations and counsels patients over the phone on their medications.
The program’s patient population includes those enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial health plans and currently serves more than 750,000 lives nationwide and has delivered MTM services to more than 50,000 people since 2010.
In addition, uninterrupted comprehensive medication reviews via a telephone call are used to determine if patients are following their prescribed medication plans. These conversations also uncover drug misuse and help to inform patients of non-prescribed medications that could counteract their prescribed medication therapy.