RxR Briefings - Issue 4

What’s going on in Idaho?

Pharmacy is on the precipice of an AI revolution. You’re probably thinking, “Gee, Harry sure has a strong interest in AI and technology,” and yes, that’s true, and I’m sharing it all with you. There’s growing evidence supporting why we should be paying attention and learning as much as possible about it because it’s affecting our industry on multiple levels.

To start, how AI is impacting our industry and how certain US states address the regulatory challenges are equally gaining velocity. Last week, Dr. Tim Frost, PharmaD, talked about his work with the State of Idaho and its impact on the practice of pharmacy.

Tim’s fascinating presentation inspired me to create a series of articles diving into the concepts and implications of full practice authority, standard of care, and provider status so more of you could benefit from the information he presented. Below is the first in the series.

Each concept needs to be thoroughly understood to interpret how state Boards of Pharmacy, the federal government, and ultimately payors, grapple with the evolving role of pharmacists as AI forces change.

On a side note, if you’d like me to explore a specific aspect of our changing industry OR you’d like to be a guest contributor and write a future RxR Briefings article, please let me know by replying to this email.

Cheers,
Harry

Mon, Mar 17

The AI-powered pharmacist: full practice authority and the future of care

Are we ready for how AI is changing pharmacy, full practice authority, standard of care, and provider status? The first in a series addressing the future of care.

APhA 2025—March 21-24, 2025, Music City Center, Nashville, TN
NHIA25—March 29 - April 2, 2025, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Washington, D.C.
AMCP 2025—March 31 - April 3, 2025, I will be emceeing the Pre-Conference Program: The Role of AI in Revolutionizing Managed Care—don’t miss it! George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX
NACDS Annual—April 26-29, 2025, The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL
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Harry’s Hot AI App Review

My thoughts on Perplexity.ai

I stopped using Google or Bing to search; I now ask Perplexity. Instead of using a word, phrase, or short question, as we’ve been trained to do using search engines, it invites me to think about my overarching goal and what problem I’m attempting to solve before I phrase my question.

What’s cool about Perplexity is you can see it processing…you can see it looking up this, looking up that; you see it thinking. The other cool thing is that the answer it provides is well footnoted as it cites where it got the information. It also offers several follow-up questions so you can get pretty deep into the weeds on the data.

It was the first AI app I subscribed to, and have since invested in the Pro version which allows me to ask it successive questions and then creates a thread on that particular topic you can go back to later. It stores and has a search function for all prior queries.

Unlike Google or Bing, it can get you to the next goal of your search: a resulting piece of content you can update and use. For example, maybe your next step is to have Perplexity summarize its initial result in a 500-word blog post you can edit.

The way I mostly use Perplexity is to create short descriptions, documents, emails, summaries, and the like. It can draft the first version of practically anything—a four sentence reply or large document. It summarizes issues really well, and then I take it from there to “Harry-fy” it.

It’s not much different from other AI apps, honestly. It boils down to which user interface you like, and frankly, which AI app did you start with. They all seem to use the same underlying LLMs, generative AI, and other algorithms that process data in milliseconds.

If you haven’t tried it, give it a test drive. There’s a free version you can try, and use Perplexity for a day instead of Google or another AI app like ChatGPT and let me know what you think.

RxRoundtable content “springs” into beta!

Along with spring, here’s something else that’s coming soon: the RxRoundtable Member Resource Library. The beta version will include a variety of practical and professional resources to help our Members accelerate their careers whether they are seeking a new executive position, an advisory role, or to launch/grow their consultancy.

Our goal is to continue to add a steady stream of fresh and helpful value for all RxRoundtable Members to enjoy, making the RxRoundtable a must-have resource for executives in our growing industry.

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Thursday RxRoundtable Session March 20, 2025 4-5PM EST—Voxo’s VP of Product, Brennan Hodge, will talk about VOXO’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and how it handles prescription refills and routine calls, enabling pharmacists to allocate more attention to important patient care.
Tuesday RxRoundtable Session April 1, 2025 4-5PM EST—Todd Sega, former CEO of Pharmacy Quality Solutions which was acquired by Innovaccer in 2024, will discuss the software applications to help align healthcare payers and pharmacies to achieve their shared goals of better patient outcomes and healthcare quality performance.
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Thursday RxRoundtable Session April 17, 2025 4-5PM EST—Jake Nichols, co-founder of Ignite Biomedical, will present his company's plans to use pharmacogenomics to revolutionize high-cost immunotherapy.

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