As more pharmacies close, it’s time to rethink speed and convenience over outcomes for consumers | Viewpoint

Few healthcare industry buzzwords have had as much staying power as “consumerism.”

Health plans, providers, regulators, manufacturers, and digital health companies have all rallied around the notion that the consumers (formerly known as patients) will vote with their dollars and decisions for services that are, above all, convenient and easy to fit into their increasingly busy lifestyles.

But what if the relentless pursuit of “convenience” leads us astray? While plenty of access barriers need to be addressed, the fixation on convenience as a primary goal for patient care is fraught with potential pitfalls.

That’s because, contrary to popular belief, convenience doesn’t just mean speed. And speed doesn’t always mean consumer satisfaction. Getting this equation wrong can lead to taking shortcuts that don’t produce better outcomes in the long term, which is what most consumers are really concerned about when it comes to their health.

Take GLP-1s, for example. In the rush to meet overwhelming consumer demand for weight loss and diabetes management medications, manufacturers, health plans, and providers may want to consider establishing clinical structure and patient-centered education around these drugs that could help lead to fewer side effects that often prompt early discontinuation. Enhanced oversight and support could lead to improved adherence and better results, which will make patients happier and healthier in the long run.

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are another area where it’s been too easy to conflate convenience with speed. These devices are highly effective for empowering people with diabetes to make more informed decisions about their daily care activities — if patients use them regularly and fully understand how to interpret the information they provide.

• Read more: Continuous glucose monitor market poised for more growth

Health plans, including government-sponsored benefit programs, have made a good-faith effort to distribute CGMs quickly and conveniently, often relying on retail pharmacy channels as a primary method of distribution.

In the past, when there was usually at least one retail pharmacy on every main street in America, this approach seemed like it had accessibility and convenience built in from the beginning. But America’s healthcare landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. As the number of people with diabetes has risen to nearly 40 million, the number of retail pharmacies to handle their needs is falling precipitously.

Over the past two years, Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens combined have planned to close more than 1,500 stores. Walgreens recently announced that it will shutter 1,200 of its financially underperforming locations.

Independent pharmacies are also becoming increasingly scarce, with up to a third at risk of closure due to financial constraints. Many of these closures are hitting underserved communities particularly hard — communities that already experience much higher rates of diabetes — as existing pharmacy deserts spread even further.

The pharmacies that remain are often understaffed while facing unprecedented demands, leading to long wait times, pharmacist burnout, and a distinct absence of the perceived speed and convenience factors that pushed many health plans to consider them the primary channel for CGM distribution to begin with.

The potential consequences are dire. Research published in JMIR Diabetes shows that people who receive their CGMs from retail pharmacies are less likely to remain adherent to therapy over time and more likely to experience increased healthcare spending than those who get their devices from other channels, such as durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers.

Clearly, speed isn’t everything when it comes to better patient experiences, outcomes, and overall value.

With fewer and fewer pharmacies available to provide basic distribution services, let alone the personalized support that consumers are increasingly expecting as part of their healthcare experiences, it may be time to rethink how the retail pharmacy landscape fits into the future definition of “consumer convenience” when it comes to CGMs — and more broadly, as well.

Instead of forcing pharmacies to take on additional burdens they potentially may not be equipped to handle, health plans should consider other options that balance accessibility and speed with holistic coaching and support activities that are proven to positively impact diabetes management.

These options could include collaborating with primary care providers and endocrinologists to integrate device-specific educational resources into clinical care or establishing outreach programs from health plans to maintain regular engagement with CGM users. Another viable solution is expanding partnerships with DMEs, which have more in-depth relationships and expertise to deliver devices directly to homes while providing tailored onboarding and long-term support.

With the pharmacy environment changing so rapidly, health plans urgently need to explore more sustainable definitions of convenience that enable seamless access to critical resources, such as CGMs, without sacrificing the integrity or effectiveness of a clinically robust consumer experience.

By giving more equal weight to speed, accessibility, and long-term outcomes, the entire health system can maximize the value of its consumer-focused efforts while ensuring that patients are really getting the experiences they need to succeed from their partners in care: high-quality education and wraparound support that foster better adherence, less spending, and increased likelihood of achieving long-term diabetes control.