Lawmakers can improve an access issue in health care by passing Senate Bill 5924. The bill would expand the practice of pharmacy to include limited diagnosing and the ability to prescribe or order certain drugs and devices.
Allowing pharmacists prescriptive authority recognizes what their training is already built around: drugs and the conditions they treat. Pharmacists can see what you’re taking, what you’ve tried, what you’ve stopped, what you’re allergic to and they know what doesn’t mix with what. Letting them help with medications people use is not only a practical fix, it’s needed. Washington state’s provider shortage, particularly in rural and underserved communities, is harming patients, and pharmacists are uniquely qualified to prescribe medications that can improve patient access and outcomes.
Other states have the access solution and are seeing promising results. Even in our state, this is not a new idea. Washington state pharmacists have been prescribing and diagnosing under collaborative drug therapy agreements since 1979, and the Washington state Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission has no record of patient harm related to the practice. The paperwork involved in those agreements has grown into a barrier, however: Maintaining and filing the agreements is an administrative burden that doesn’t improve oversight or patient care.
SB 5924 would trim red tape and cost, not safety. Pharmacists’ education is often underestimated because the public mostly sees the final step — “Here’s your prescription.” But pharmacists are trained for this work. They earn a Doctor of Pharmacy degree — the required standard since 2000. The schooling is built around medications and the conditions they treat, including a minimum of 1,740 hours of direct patient care in both community and inpatient settings. Yet despite more than 25 years under that advanced education model, Washington’s pharmacist scope of practice has remained essentially unchanged.
Some critics worry this bill will add to the legitimate problem of medicating problems away without fuller care, but pharmacists are the clinicians best trained to do the opposite. They screen for interactions and inappropriate use, recommend non-drug options when appropriate and refer patients to other care when symptoms suggest something more serious than a quick prescription.
For rural communities, this bill could bring serious relief. When primary care is scarce and urgent care is miles away, a local pharmacist can be the most accessible clinician. And SB 5924 expands options without forcing anyone into a new pathway. Patients who want a traditional physician visit can still get one. Patients who need timely, medication-focused care can choose the pharmacist — a voluntary exchange that meets people where they are.
We need to let the pharmacy counter be a front door to care, not just a pick-up window.
