Improving Patient Care & Access Through Pharmacy Services

With the overwhelming demand for convenient and quality care, it is essential to provide additional testing and treatment options within communities. Pharmacies are well-positioned to offer these services for many common health conditions given pharmacists are highly trained, easily accessible and trusted members of their communities.

By enabling early detection and quicker access to appropriate treatment,
“Test and Treat” policies can significantly reduce the spread of infectious and common illnesses, offer patients additional community health options to receive timely care, and improve individual health outcomes. Early treatment can also lead to cost savings by avoiding more expensive care required for advanced stages of diseases.

The expansion of pharmacist “Test and Treat” authority is not only a logical response to current health care challenges but also a widely supported measure to improve patient care and system efficiency. It’s time to embrace the full scope of pharmacists’ capabilities to effectively meet our communities’ health needs.

By enabling early detection and quicker access to appropriate treatment,
“Test and Treat” policies can significantly reduce the spread of infectious and common illnesses, offer patients additional community health options to receive timely care, and improve individual health outcomes. Early treatment can also lead to cost savings by avoiding more expensive care required for advanced stages of diseases.

The expansion of pharmacist “Test and Treat” authority is not only a logical response to current health care challenges but also a widely supported measure to improve patient care and system efficiency. It’s time to embrace the full scope of pharmacists’ capabilities to effectively meet our communities’ health needs.

Test and Treat

National Landscape of Pharmacist Authority to Test and Initiate Treatment Respiratory Conditions by State

Test and Treat provides critical access to healthcare services for patients.

While all 50 states have some level of CLIA-waived diagnostic testing available through pharmacies, the following states authorize pharmacists to order and/or administer point-of-care tests, and initiate therapy based on the results for respiratory illnesses such as, but not limited to, flu, and COVID-19.

2022

Alaska

Authority to prescribe for minor conditions diagnosable with CLIA-waived tests

2021

Arkansas

Authority to treat conditions identified by CLIA-waived tests

2021

Colorado

Authority to prescribe treatments guided by CLIA-waived diagnostic tests

2022

Delaware

Authority to order, test, screen, and treat for flu, strep, COVID, and other respiratory illness

2022

Florida*

Authority to prescribe for flu, strep, and other respiratory conditions

2018

Idaho

Authority to prescribe treatments based on CLIA-waived diagnostic tests

2024

Illinois

Authority to test and treat for flu, strep, COVID-19, RSV, and other respiratory conditions

2024

Iowa

Authority to test and treat for any condition within the pharmacist standard of care”

2022

Kansas*

Authority to initiate treatments for flu, strep, and COVID-19

2022

Kentucky*

Authority to test and treat for flu, strep, and COVID-19

2023

Michigan

Authority to test for COVID, flu, and other respiratory infections and prescribe treatments for COVID and flu

2023

Montana

Authority to prescribe for minor conditions diagnosable with CLIA-waived tests

2023

New Mexico

Authority to test and treat for flu, strep, COVID-19, and other conditions

2024

Tennessee

Authority to test and treat for flu and COVID-19 upon positive CLIA-waived tests

2023

Virginia

Authority to test and treat for strep, flu, and COVID-19

* Authorities for these states are extended via physician protocol.