The Role of Community Pharmacy in Addressing and Preventing Opioid Use Disorder

Pharmacists are actively engaged in providing patient care across multiple practice settings, and the community pharmacist has the opportunity to engage in activities that mitigate opioid use disorder and downstream morbidity and mortality. Community pharmacists’ roles have been expanded in some states to include conducting and being reimbursed for comprehensive medication reviews, administering injections, and prescribing through collaborative practice agreements with physicians. All of these expanded roles potentially have implications related to opioid use disorder. These expanded practice authorities highlight the need to strengthen understanding of pharmacists’ engagement in public health interventions. Given the role of pharmaceuticals in public health interventions and the accessibility of community pharmacies across the nation, determining ways to effectively and efficiently connect the public health and pharmacy professions to improve patient and population health is warranted. The interventions described in the chapter highlight the role of pharmacists in preventing opioid misuse and, more importantly, challenge the status quo regarding pharmacists’ roles in decreasing morbidity and mortality associated with opioid use.