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Vermont Pharmacists Association urges greater pharmacist role in primary care, warns of pharmacy closures
Summary
Lauren Bodie of the Vermont Pharmacists Association told the House Health Care Committee that pharmacists can improve outcomes and lower costs when involved in direct patient care, but reimbursement and pharmacy benefit manager practices threaten community pharmacies and service capacity.
Lauren Bodie, legislative liaison for the Vermont Pharmacists Association and a practicing pharmacist, introduced the association to the House Health Care Committee on Feb. 7 and urged the committee to consider expanding pharmacists’ roles in primary care and public-health services.
"Pharmacists are an essential part of our health care system," Bodie said. "We see treatment outcomes improve, patients are happier with their care, and the care costs the system less." She told the committee that pharmacists’ training focuses on choosing the right medication and managing patient care, not simply dispensing pills, and she cited research showing improved outcomes and lower costs when pharmacists are involved more directly in patient management.
Bodie described specific service areas where pharmacists already contribute or could contribute more: treating minor ailments, managing chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, prescribing hormonal contraception under current authority, distributing naloxone, and participating in medication-assisted treatment in some states under collaborative practice arrangements. She noted that other states authorize pharmacists to prescribe medications for opioid use disorder under certain models, but that Vermont currently does not permit that wider prescribing authority.
Bodie also warned that community pharmacies are closing at an "alarming rate," attributing closures to predatory pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices, inflationary pressures and staffing challenges. "When a pharmacy closes, we're not just losing a convenient place to buy shampoo, we're losing a corner of our health care infrastructure, in particular, our primary care infrastructure," she told the committee.
Committee members asked about several operational and policy issues. Bodie said naloxone distribution is widespread and that pharmacists already participate. On the question of whether pharmacists could prescribe medications such as hormonal contraception or buprenorphine under some models, she said some networks have explored those options but emphasized that statutory authority and, critically, sustainable reimbursement and business models are needed for long‑term implementation.
She also addressed medication disposal and sharps: returned medications placed in pharmacy take‑back boxes are typically handled by third‑party vendors and incinerated; sharps disposal guidance from state waste authorities recommends sealing sharps in a hard-sided container, labeling it "sharps — do not recycle," and disposing of it in household trash if no designated site is available. Bodie mentioned local examples, such as independent pharmacies paying more for recyclable or compostable packaging to reduce waste.
No committee action was recorded following the presentation. Bodie invited further engagement and offered the Vermont Pharmacists Association as a resource on pharmacy and primary-care legislation.
