The College of Pharmacy is in the beginning stages of creating a collaborative program called Texas PharmCare, which will help combat barriers and allow pharmacists to easily access medical information necessary to assist patients with obtaining needed medication treatment.

Samuel Poloyac, dean of the College of Pharmacy, shared the program’s plans for collaboration with the independent Tarrytown Pharmacy and H-E-B. The program will collaborate with two software companies to access information from hospitals and clinics, allowing pharmacists to provide patients with stronger medical information. 

“What we want to be able to do is walk into any local pharmacy right now and have access to a healthcare professional,” Poloyac said. “We want to be able to have the pharmacist not just be able to give you information about your medication, but make sure the medication is working well for the patient.” 

Rannon Ching, president and chief pharmacy officer at Tarrytown Pharmacy, said information such as lab values, liver function tests and kidney function tests are not accessible for pharmacists in the community. Texas PharmCare’s collaboration with Tarrytown and H-E-B would expand medical record access to give the community quicker access to healthcare providers for patients with diabetes and hypertension.

“Pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers, … and we have a lot of ability to supplement the rest of the healthcare team by providing data that they may not get,” Ching said. 

Bruno Onwukwe, a pharmacy senior and former president of UT’s National Community Pharmacists Association, said this collaboration would present opportunities to prospective students at the university.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for students to see how pharmacy is progressing beyond the traditional and how pharmacies can become more integrated in the patient’s entire healthcare process,” Onwukwe said.