Troy Trygstad

Yes, COVID-19 Is Still a Big Deal. Pharmacy Is the Tip of the Spear (and Needle)

Rural Health Transformation Efforts Offer an Opportunity for Pharmacy to Shine

Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Cross the Rubicon

A Regulatory Avalanche Hits the Pharmacy Benefit Management Business

The Past, Present, and Future of the Pharmacy Workforce

“Where There Is Mystery, There Is Margin.” Will Medicare Eliminate Mystery From Retail Pharmacy?

Longevity Medicine: Just Another Reincarnation of Diet and Exercise or Something Altogether Different?

The Average Health Insurance Premium Now Costs $27k Per Year for a Family

When It Comes to Achieving Provider Status, Look to Patient Demand

Don’t be asleep at the wheel. AI is coming, and it’s coming fast.

Do Not Underestimate RSV or Your Importance in Recommending Vaccines

Patients, Consumers, and Caregivers Are Increasingly Interested in Self-Determination and Convenience.

I’M GRATEFUL FOR MY ATHLETICS EXPERIENCE, TRAVELS, AND COACHING I’ve had the good fortune and privilege to compete both as a runner and a coach at a high level, participating in National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I track and field championships and being a part of a multidisciplinary team that coached multiple Olympians. Some of my success and wisdom in the sport came from a congenitally misaligned tibia, causing stress fractures and excess compression on my medial compartment,…

MANY PREDICT 2024 WILL BE THE YEAR OF PHARMACY CLOSURE Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens collectively have reported an expected shuttering of 1500 pharmacy locations over the course of 2 years,1 with the bulk of the closures expected in 2024. Meanwhile, independent pharmacy closures also have been increasing and have numbered into the thousands over the past few years.2 A confluence of opioid settlements, the overall continued degradation in product reimbursement, consumer spending shifts away from…

All fills are not equal in their complexity and cost.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerated the Inevitable Remember late winter and early spring 2020? Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when the National Basketball Association canceled its season or when celebrities announced they had COVID-19? For pharmacy staff, do you remember when you heard that physician clinics were closing and patients started calling in a panic over prescription refills and access to care? Nearly overnight, telemedicine took off, restaurants closed their do…

Our wacky health care system can’t pay pharmacies a few more dollars to survive, but we can spend billions of dollars on shipping costs.

Growth of Nurse Practitioners Prompts Shortage of Registered Nurses There are more than 350,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) in the United States, with nearly 90% of them being certified in primary care.1 Thanks to a long-term, unwavering march toward independent practice and bolstered by COVID-19, at least 11 states have approved or are in the process of approving independent practices of NPs. The arguments for independence should sound familiar to pharmacists. Namely, a primary care shortage, es…

I remember graduating from pharmacy school in 2002 and the free-for-all that was the graduate job fair for Drake University’s graduating class. Everyone was begging to land a pharmacist, and a small chain in the Northwest traveled about 2000 miles to Des Moines, Iowa, with the hope that 1 of the 106 graduates would take a staff position in Seattle, Washington. This was one of the first PharmD classes. That short disruption in the cycle of supply, in combination with the baby boomers getting to…

There is a proliferation of state legislative actions to allow independent practice of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. At least 11 states have passed legislation or were in the process of doing so to provide for independent practice and prescribing in 2022,1 with more bills to come in 2023. Arguments in favor of these bills are a growing shortage of primary care providers, particularly in rural and underserved areas, and a proven record of safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, when…