Ignite | Spring 2022
Jaclyn Boyle: Recognizing Pharmacists as Doctors
For years, legal restrictions made it nearly impossible for pharmacists in the U.S. to be reimbursed without mounds of paperwork when they partnered with physicians. Yes, they could team up to manage patient medications and care plans — making sure that patients weren’t having side effects and that they were on affordable medications. “But there was no direct billing mechanism so they could be reimbursed for their time and expertise as health care providers in these situations,” says Jaclyn Boyle, Pharm.D. (’12), M.B.A.
That door was closed.
A visit to the state capital in Columbus on Legislative Day opened Dr. Boyle’s eyes to the work of advocacy when she was a student in the College of Pharmacy. When she started practicing, she began in earnest to advocate for legislation surrounding provider status in the state of Ohio.
Dr. Boyle became president of the Ohio Society of Healthcare Pharmacists (OSHP) in 2016, at a time when the organization was teaming up with the OCCP and Ohio Pharmacist Association to push for provider status in the state.
“Our legislators wanted to know specifically how the law would impact patients in Ohio. We collected proof points from pharmacists across the state to show that provider status would achieve the Triple Aim,” says Dr. Boyle: improving the patient care experience, improving the health of populations and reducing the per capita cost of health care.
In May 2018, Dr. Boyle was one of half a dozen pharmacists and two physicians who testified in support of SB265 in front of the Ohio Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee. In January 2019, Ohio Gov. John Kasich approved SB265, formally recognizing pharmacists as providers in Ohio — and importantly, allowing them to be reimbursed as such.
Today, pharmacy advocates are working to pass a provider status bill at the federal level. Dr. Boyle leads students in letter-writing campaigns and embeds advocacy into the curriculum, student organizations — wherever she can. As she says, “I try to get them as involved as I can.”