To remain healthy, communities need access to pharmacy services. Too often, that access is being challenged, leaving areas of the country as “pharmacy deserts.” That has damaging effects on patients’ health, and on the fabric of the community itself. To better understand the issue, and identify some ways to fight back against pharmacy deserts, NCPA sat down with the No. 1 subject expert on the issue, Dima Qato, PharmD, MPH, PhD.
Qato, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, is the person who first coined the term pharmacy desert. She has led groundbreaking research into how a lack of pharmacy access affects public health, what communities are most likely to have access shortages, and how policy can help expand the reach of pharmacy services into underserved areas.
She is also co-director of the USC-NCPA Pharmacy Access Initiative, which publishes resources and materials on pharmacy deserts, including an interactive map of pharmacy locations and levels of access to pharmacy services across the country, down to the neighborhood level.
The interview is available here, whether or not you’re an NCPA member.
If you want to learn more about the pharmacies providing dispensing services to underserved communities, and the business considerations around working in those areas, check out this month’s issue of America's Pharmacist®, NCPA’s members-only magazine. Not a member? Check out a list of NCPA membership benefits here.
