Photo by Whitney Downard/Pennsylvania Capital-Star In light of ongoing provider shortages, some pharmacists are taking on additional duties to close the gap.

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.

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.

“You 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,” said Eddy. “Being 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.”

The call was a monthly check-in that’s part of a new program with the woman’s Medicaid insurance provider, Pittsburgh-based Highmark Wholecare. MOMENTUM — or Maternal Outreach through Mobile Engagement Navigation, Testing and Unified Medicine — launched last spring. It’s part of Highmark’s EngageRx, a collaboration with the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network, a coalition of more than 200 independent pharmacies across 47 counties.

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.

“The problem was that those were never captured. There was nothing tracking that because they weren’t payable services,” said Linn. “When you go to a physician and you’re sitting in front of them at a visit, and you ask these questions — that’s a visit. They’re getting billed for their time. Pharmacists weren’t able to do that in Pennsylvania previously.”

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.

“The reimbursement … is really what changes the game here,” Linn said.

Popular services

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.

But many now ask every patient every day, identifying local resources that can help — sometimes with the help of Highmark’s care managers for complex needs.

“It totally changed the relationship the pharmacy team has with that patient,” said McGrath.

In rural areas like Waynesburg, where Eddy works, major hospitals are 20-30 minutes away and specialty doctors aren’t in every day of the week. But pharmacies are open later than most providers, even on holidays. Nearly 90% of Americans live five miles or less from a pharmacy, even as doctors offices consolidate and rural hospitals close.

Additionally, Medicaid beneficiaries visit a pharmacy, on average, 35 times a year — compared to four visits to other medical providers. That makes pharmacies a good fit for expanded services.

“Pharmacies are such great access points for lots of services,” said McGrath.

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.

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.

The second-most popular service is medication delivery, which the pharmacists said yielded additional benefits.

McGrath shared that drivers delivering medication had found patients who’d fallen and hadn’t gotten up in two days. Others assisted people without food or who had unsafe living situations.

A lifeline for

independent

pharmacies

As independent pharmacies face unprecedented pressure — closing at higher rates and battling drug middlemen — McGrath said EngageRx helped some stores keep their doors open.

As a Medicaid provider, the program is funded and indirectly overseen by the state Department of Human Services.

While the health industry, as a whole, grapples with burnout, getting paid for this engagement in a sustainable way has made a difference to pharmacies, McGrath said.

“I think one of the really great things about independent pharmacies is that they can be very nimble and they can pivot. They understand their communities really well,” said McGrath. “A pharmacy in the city of Pittsburgh is very different from a pharmacy in Clearfield County, and people need different things because there are different resources.”

The program continues to evolve, with future plans to discuss how pharmacists can identify someone living in an abusive relationship. McGrath said some independent pharmacies were also exploring testing for sexually transmitted infections.

“Pharmacies can’t do it all. But the things that they can do then alleviate some of the pressure from the other health care providers and take some of the pressure from the rest of the health care system to allow other health care providers to do what they do best,” said McGrath.

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