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In light of ongoing provider shortages, some pharmacists are taking on additional duties to close the gap. (Photo by Whitney Downard\/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)<\/p>\n
A soon-to-be mother in Greene County was eight months pregnant and told her pharmacist, Heather Eddy, that she was planning to breastfeed, using formula as a backup. But, as Eddy recalls, she worried whether she could afford it.<\/p>\n
Eddy, who works at the McCracken Pharmacy in Waynesburg, directed the mother to the supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which could help alleviate the cost. New moms will likely have new questions all the time, said Eddy, who has an 18-month-old son.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cYou could ask your provider, but they might be more difficult to get a hold of and I reach out once a month to check on them,\u201d said Eddy. \u201cBeing an independent local pharmacy, we do have that extra relationship and bond with the community that makes this a lot easier to perform these services.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The call was a monthly check-in that\u2019s part of a new program with the woman\u2019s Medicaid insurance provider, Pittsburgh-based Highmark Wholecare. MOMENTUM \u2014 or Maternal Outreach through Mobile Engagement Navigation, Testing and Unified Medicine \u2014 launched last spring. It\u2019s part of Highmark\u2019s EngageRx, a collaboration with the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network, a coalition of more than 200 independent pharmacies across 47 counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n EngageRx reimburses independent pharmacists for services that the providers previously did for free, said Kelsey Linn, who manages the program. She said people already ask their pharmacists questions about their health care beyond the scope of medicine or vaccines.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem was that those were never captured. There was nothing tracking that because they weren\u2019t payable services,\u201d said Lynn. \u201cWhen you go to a physician and you\u2019re sitting in front of them at a visit, and you ask these questions \u2014 that\u2019s a visit. They\u2019re getting billed for their time. Pharmacists weren\u2019t able to do that in Pennsylvania previously.\u201d<\/p>\n That payment allows pharmacies to hire pharmacists specifically for engagement services, like Eddy who spends her time calling patients for check-ins. In turn, thousands of Pennsylvanians are getting referred to things like local food pantries, Naloxone education for drug overdose prevention and transportation services.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe reimbursement \u2026 is really what changes the game here,\u201d Linn said.<\/p>\n Popular services<\/p>\n At first, some pharmacists were uncomfortable incorporating the social determinants of health screening into their services, said Stephanie McGrath, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network.<\/p>\n \u00a0But many now ask every patient every day, identifying local resources that can help<\/a> \u2014 sometimes with the help of Highmark\u2019s care managers for complex needs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt totally changed the relationship the pharmacy team has with that patient,\u201d said McGrath.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX<\/a><\/p>\n In rural areas like Waynesburg, where Eddy works, major hospitals are 20-30 minutes away and specialty doctors aren\u2019t in every day of the week. But pharmacies are open later than most providers, even on holidays. Nearly 90% of Americans<\/a> live five miles or less from a pharmacy, even as doctors offices consolidate and rural hospitals close.<\/p>\n Additionally, Medicaid beneficiaries visit a pharmacy, on average, 35 times a year<\/a> \u2014 compared to four visits to other medical providers. That makes pharmacies a good fit for expanded services.<\/p>\n \u201cPharmacies are such great access points for lots of services,\u201d said McGrath.<\/p>\n Between Aug. 1, 2022 and June 31, 2025, 114 pharmacies served nearly 11,000 Highmark members more than 82,000 times. Almost half of these community services were medication synchronization, one of the first services included in EngageRx.\u00a0<\/p>\n For people managing multiple prescriptions with various pick-up times scattered throughout the month, simply synchronizing all medicines to be available at the same time helped. This change also helped patients who lack reliable transportation, giving them just one pickup time.\u00a0<\/p>\n The second-most popular service is medication delivery, which the pharmacists said yielded additional benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n McGrath shared that drivers delivering medication had found patients who\u2019d fallen and hadn\u2019t gotten up in two days. Others assisted people without food or who had unsafe living situations.\u00a0<\/p>\n A lifeline for independent pharmacies<\/p>\n As independent pharmacies face unprecedented pressure \u2014 closing at higher rates and battling drug middlemen<\/a> \u2014 McGrath said EngageRx helped some stores keep their doors open.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/penncapital-star.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1000177858-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Heather Eddy, PharmD, works at McCracken Pharmacy in rural Waynesburg, Pa. (Photo courtesy of Heather Eddy)<\/p>\n