The first part of this article discussed pharmacist provider status and argument both for and against it. Today’s post now turns to regulatory hurdles, developments towards provider status and the acknowledgment of changing roles in the pharmacist workforce.

While the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) ushered in a new era of access to health care, it only served to exacerbate a growing crisis in the provision of health care – lack of providers. As of April 2015, the Health Resources and Services Administration lists the population of the United States that lives within a health professional shortage area (“HPSA”) for primary care as 103,847,716, with 1,023,989 of those living in Kentucky.[1] This shortage calls for a reimagining of ways that non-physician providers can fill the care gap, and the debate surrounding the provider status of pharmacists with regard to federal health care programs is evidence of a changing mindset.

In the last post, the subjects of collaborative agreements and autonomy were discussed in relation to how they affect mid-level practitioners. Today’s post now turns to how HRSA designation and limited services clinics will ultimately influence that workforce as well.