Each October, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) celebrates American Pharmacists Month, recognizing the more than 700,000 pharmacists, technicians, and student pharmacists who are dedicated to improving public health. For workers’ compensation patients, pharmacists hold a special place on the care team, providing medication expertise that supports safer therapy and improved outcomes.
As the pharmacy landscape continues to evolve, medication management for injured workers is becoming increasingly complex. For instance, while opioids and other pain medications remain important areas of clinical oversight, newer and expanding therapies – such as specialty medications, novel migraine therapies, and GLP-1s – are introducing additional clinical and financial considerations into workers’ compensation.
What’s more, injured workers may experience prolonged treatment involving multiple providers, concurrent medications, evolving medication regimens, chronic pain concerns, and comorbid conditions. It is in these medically complex cases that pharmacist expertise becomes especially valuable.
In honor of American Pharmacists Month, let’s explore the vital role of the pharmacist in supporting injured worker care and recovery.
Monitoring Pharmacy and Clinical Trends
One important role of clinical pharmacists is staying current with pharmacy trends, including new medications entering the market, emerging clinical evidence, and updated prescribing guidance. For example, clinical researchers are studying GLP-1 drugs for new indications (in addition to obesity and diabetes); pharmacists stay aware of these developments and update their guidance for workers’ compensation prescribers accordingly.
In addition to making clinical recommendations, pharmacists use their knowledge of emerging trends to help guide drug formulary strategy. They evaluate clinical trials, practice guidelines, and cost effectiveness data to identify which therapeutic options offer the safest and most effective and cost-efficient care for formulary inclusion.
Bringing Medication Expertise to Complex Cases
A pharmacist’s specialized expertise in pharmacotherapy makes them uniquely qualified to evaluate medication regimens for injured workers, especially in complex cases. With visibility into a patient’s full medication regimen, pharmacists can assess prescribed therapies collectively and identify medication-related risks as well as help ensure treatment is evidence-based and appropriately dosed.
Concerns they may note for injured workers include, but are not limited to:
- Drug-drug and drug-disease interactions
- Therapeutic duplication
- Patient-specific allergies and contraindications
- Potentially inappropriate selection of medication or dosage
- Utilization patterns that may indicate safety concerns or misuse (i.e., early refills)
- Poor adherence (i.e., late refills)
- Polypharmacy (taking many medications at once)
In addition to those concerns, clinical pharmacists may also identify comorbid or behavioral factors that could affect a patient’s medication regimen and/or recovery. For example, a history of substance use disorder may prompt the pharmacist to alert the prescriber to the increased risks associated with opioid therapy and recommend appropriate precautions or alternative treatment options for that patient.
Collaboration in Action: Pharmacists and Physicians Working Together
Another important role for pharmacists, especially those in community pharmacy settings, is identifying any medication adherence barriers and ensuring injured workers understand their medications and use them as intended.
Research published in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy found that patients visit community pharmacies approximately 1.5 to two times more often than they visit physicians or other healthcare professionals. This makes pharmacists an ideal “partner on the ground” for physicians, helping identify medication-related issues that may otherwise go unnoticed The World Medical Association states that “collaboration between these professions is imperative, including with respect to the development of training and in terms of information sharing with one another and with patients.”
The value of this partnership, where pharmacists can help patients navigate their therapy while supporting the physician, also translates to workers’ compensation programs. For example, a clinical pharmacist at a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) may consult directly with an injured worker patient regarding their medication regimen and help them to understand their therapy, manage side effects, and support medication adherence.
Better Medication Management Supports Better Recovery
Medication choices can impact how quickly and effectively an injured worker recovers, returns to work, and avoids prolonged disability. Effective medication therapy can provide adequate symptom control to support participation in physical therapy and other recovery-focused interventions.
Conversely, certain medication-related concerns, including high-dose opioids or prolonged opioid use – can lead to longer disability durations and lower return-to-work rates. A study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that early high-risk opioid prescribing practices are associated with significantly greater odds of long-term disability among injured workers – underscoring how medication decisions can influence recovery trajectories.
Pharmacist and physician collaboration is the key to strategic, evidence-based medication management. While the prescribing physician remains the primary clinical decisionmaker, pharmacists serve as essential collaborators – helping to optimize medication therapy and ensure safe and appropriate care so injured workers can return to work as quickly as possible.
