The future of pharmacy: can regulations keep up with AI?
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As artificial intelligence (AI) drives productivity gains in pharmacy, an important question emerges: How will pharmacists use this newfound time? Before we decide, we must first examine the scope of practice—what pharmacists are legally allowed to do.
The regulatory roadblock
Pharmacy practice is regulated at the state level, not by the federal government—except in rare cases of federal preemption, such as the COVID-era allowance for pharmacists to prescribe and dispense Paxlovid. This means that each state defines its own rules, creating a wide variation in pharmacist authority.
For example:
Florida defines pharmacy practice in 628 words and has 163 pages of pharmacy regulations. Pharmacists do not have full practice authority.
Idaho, by contrast, allows full practice authority with only 106 words defining pharmacy practice and about 20 total pages of regulation.
Regulation vs. innovation: the data tells a story
A study published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association introduced the Pharmacy Regulatory Innovation Index (PRII), which ranks states based on:
Regulatory burden (word count of regulations)
Innovation in pharmacy practice (scope of pharmacist-patient care activities)
The authors analyzed the regulatory scope of the ten western states in the US. The results? The more regulations, the less innovation. Idaho, with the lowest word count, had the highest innovation score, while Nevada, with over 1 million words of regulations, had the lowest innovation score.
AI is moving fast—can pharmacy keep up?
If AI is to revolutionize pharmacy, state regulations must evolve—and quickly. It took Idaho over a decade to achieve full practice authority. With AI advancing at breakneck speed, we can’t afford to wait ten years for regulatory changes nationwide.
Advocate for change
Regulations shape the future of pharmacy. If we want AI-driven innovation to improve access, improve quality, and lower the cost of patient care, we must expand pharmacist roles by leveraging AI to reduce administrative burdens among other opportunities to reduce, reform, and reinvent solutions that benefit patients.
We must:
Educate policymakers about the impact of outdated regulations
Advocate for legislative updates that empower pharmacists
Collaborate with pharmacy boards to align rules with modern healthcare demands
How can we push for faster reform?
Share your thoughts in the comments or reach out to discuss how we can drive change together.
