Iowa’s rural communities are seeing a shortage of healthcare providers, and pharmacists are helping fill some of the gaps. Brent Bovy, owner of the Parkersburg Pharmacy and Reinbeck Pharmacy, says along with providing vaccinations, some pharmacies are beginning to offer test and treat options for certain diseases.
“Things like testing for flu, COVID or strep, and then treating that, we can just prescribe the medication right there and dispense it,” Bovy says. “We haven’t gone down that road yet here in Parkersburg. If the doctors in town think that might be a need, we would probably explore it a little bit more. But right now, since we have enough providers in the area, we haven’t done that yet. There’s a walk-in clinic, some of the other clinics also provide same day appointments and things like that. So there’s a lot of accessibility there. Other pharmacies that are in smaller communities that might not have a doctor’s office are starting to do that. And even in the bigger communities like Waterloo and Cedar Falls, that maybe it’s difficult to get an appointment or urgent care is full and things like that, they are providing those services.”
Bovy says this trend is likely to continue, and pharmacists can offer some basic services to allow healthcare providers to focus on more complex care.
“Pharmacy, it’s something where we’re trained to do more than just dispense pills. So we will probably see more and more of that. Even just screenings, certain insurance companies are now paying us for things like hypertension screenings or diabetes screenings, checking A1Cs and things like that. So I think you’ll see more of it, and it’s not to take away from the doctors or anything like that. It’s more to compliment them so that they can spend more time on the patients that are needing them the most, and take away some of the simpler tasks.”
Pharmacists may also prescribe medications to treat basic ailments, after state legislation was passed in 2024 to allow the practice.
Brent Bovy interview:
