BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A new Vermont law will allow pharmacies to test and treat for common illnesses like the flu, strep, and COVID, giving residents more options for care as the number of primary care physicians in the state continues to decline.
The number of primary care physicians in Vermont has been declining for more than a decade, according to the Vermont Department of Health. As a result, patients struggle to get quick care for common illnesses, and that can come at a cost.
“When primary care access is stressed, what we often see is people with these conditions will use higher-cost venues — things like urgent cares or emergency departments,” said Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Rick Hildebrant.
Gov. Phil Scott signed the so-called test-and-treat bill into law last month, allowing pharmacies to test and treat common illnesses like the flu, strep, and COVID.
Hildebrant hopes the law will ease that pressure, especially in rural areas. “By allowing people who have symptoms of the flu or of COVID or of a strep throat, to go to a pharmacy. It opens up more venues that someone can go to receive care if they are concerned they have these conditions,” Hildebrant said.
State officials are still working out protocols, but Kinney Drugs has already signed on for all 23 Vermont locations, expecting to roll out in time for flu season in September.
“When test and treat was talked about, we were very excited to be able to expand the scope of practice for pharmacists,” said Kinney’s Steven Simpson. “One of the biggest reasons for this is that pharmacies are in pretty much all corners of our state and we’re a very rural state here in Vermont.”
But Hildebrant does not expect every pharmacy will be able to sign on. “Frankly, this requires a significant size of a program. They have to have the resources to actually do this, and some of our pharmacies, the staff are really overtaxed as it is. But it’s an option,” He said.
Pharmacies had to apply for federal grant funds to participate. Kathy Benoit runs Northern Tier Center for Health, or NOTCH, a network of health centers and pharmacies in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties. She chose not to apply, saying the program wasn’t the right fit. “In pharmacy, you don’t have a schedule, so it’s very hard to have what we felt would be appropriate staffing in order to deal with those people that were walking in looking for those services,” Benoit said. She also has concerns about information sharing, worried critical health data might not be passed along to primary care providers. “This is an important aspect of primary care — that you need to know every aspect of a person’s healthcare.”
Still, Benoit believes this is a good program and is glad the state is taking action to expand rural health access. “I think that the concept most certainly is a good idea and I think that in some communities it essentially would work and could work,” she said.
The Rural Health Transformation Fund is part of a larger federal rural healthcare initiative passed by Congress last year. Hildebrant said test-and-treat is just one of several initiatives Vermont is pursuing with those funds as the state works to expand healthcare access across rural communities.
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