Public Health Practices

Community and retail pharmacists possess significant skills that can be useful during an emergency response, including vast knowledge about pharmaceutical effects and interactions and the ability to clinically assess illness. Pharmacy involvement in emergency preparedness and response varies between jurisdictions due to differences in state statutes that define how far a pharmacist's clinical reach can extend.

Building new partnerships, including with large retail chains, helped Texas dramatically expand its options for distributing antiviral medications during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Rhode Island state health officials are tracking the spread of H1N1 influenza through electronic prescription records, which are believed to help doctors more easily identify an outbreak of the illness. The tracking is enabled by the state's success with e-prescribing and the digital healthcare infrastructure available through its partnership with Surescripts, an electronic prescription network.

The purpose of Florida's Antiviral Stockpile program is to assure that anyone who has a prescribed need for medication to treat influenza-like illness has access to it, regardless of their ability to pay. Based on this goal, the state identified two situations in which interventions might be necessary: instances in which individuals are unable to afford antivirals, and times in which pharmacies are not able to meet demand for antivirals out of their own supplies.