The Future of Pharmacy | Transpharmation Podcast
It was a privilege and thrill to appear recently on Rob Sztar’s Transpharmation Podcast the worlds largest Pharmacy and Technology show.
The thrill is to speak with Rob, a pioneer who sees an industry not just for it was and is, but more importantly for what it is likely to become and how it may be disrupted.
Rob is also a rare blend of someone who is not only talking the talk by speaking,blogging and podcasting, but also walking the walking working side by side with savvy entrepreneurial Pharmacists guiding them through his proprietary and proven pharmacy business program towards a very different and very exciting Pharmacy future.
Rob and I caught up the other week for a chat about the Pharmacy and Pharmacists of the Future and in his intro to our chat he said…
Whether we realise it or not, we are all futurists, as we make plans, take actions based on internal predictions of what may happen in our environment and our communities on an everyday basis. So what do you believe your role as a pharmacist will be in 2050? Do you believe you will still own a pharmacy at this time? Will robots supersede our profession? All of these are questions we would love answers to when planning our remarkable futures. If you would like to take a peek at what’s coming our way in 2050, then you don’t want to miss this episode of the Transpharmation Show.
In this weeks episode, I interview Morris Miselowski – Business Futurist and we discuss what the pharmacy world might look like when our children have 7 careers and 14 jobs and live to 150! The future is created by making small incremental changes right now, and for you and your business to keep pace, it’s imperative that you begin to shift away from transactional healthcare and into delivering healthcare wisdom to your patients.
Take a listen to the Podcast now (1 hour 12 mins):
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the structural signals transforming the pharmacy sector?
The structural signals transforming pharmacy include: the automation of dispensing (robotic dispensing systems that can accurately fill prescriptions with minimal pharmacist involvement are commercially deployed in hospital and high-volume retail contexts); the migration of routine prescription ordering and repeat dispensing to online and delivery models (removing one of the primary reasons for pharmacy visits); the growing pressure on the pharmaceutical benefit margin that has historically cross-subsidised pharmacy services; and the growing opportunity in medication management, health coaching, and chronic disease support that is created by an ageing population with complex, multi-medication health profiles. The structural signal is away from dispensing as the primary value proposition and toward health management as the sustainable pharmacy future.
Q: What does ‘the future of pharmacy’ look like in practice for community pharmacies in Australia?
The community pharmacy future that is most sustainable involves: the redeployment of pharmacist expertise away from dispensing (which will be increasingly automated) and toward clinical consultation — medication reviews, chronic disease management, preventive health screening, and vaccination services that require pharmacist clinical judgment; the development of deeper relationships with the GP and allied health system to position the pharmacy as the accessible, walk-in component of primary healthcare; investment in the physical space to support clinical consultation rather than product display; and the digital capability to manage repeat prescriptions, deliver home services, and communicate with patients between visits. The pharmacies doing this most successfully are those that have already moved significantly away from the retail model toward the health services model.
Q: How does the HUMAND™ framework apply to decisions about pharmacy workforce and automation?
The HUMAND™ framework applied to pharmacy decision-making reveals: dispensing is largely appropriately automated — it is a high-accuracy, routine, codifiable task where machine performance consistently exceeds human performance and where automation reduces error rates; clinical consultation, medication counselling, and health coaching are appropriately human — they require relationship intelligence, complex judgment in ambiguous situations, and the trust that comes from a human presence; and the pharmacy of the future creates more value from the human capability that automation has freed up than it loses from the tasks that automation has taken over. The pharmacies that resist automation in dispensing are typically protecting the wrong thing — the task rather than the capability.
Q: How can I book Morris Misel for a healthcare futures, professional services disruption, or digital health keynote?
Contact the team at morrismisel.com/event-organisers.
It was a privilege and thrill to appear recently on Rob Sztar’s Transpharmation Podcast the worlds largest Pharmacy and Technology show. The thrill is to speak with Rob, a pioneer who sees an industry not just for it was and is, but more importantly for what it is likely to becom.
The window between a signal arriving and it demanding a response is shortening. The Future of Pharmacy is already shaping strategy conversations in forward-looking organisations. Treating it as a future concern rather than a present one builds a preparedness gap that will have to be closed under pressure.
The most important question is not whether The Future of Pharmacy will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
