"When we heard that our pharmacy was being sold and we'd lose it - that almost put us in a panic. A lot of our older people wouldn't be able to function without help from a pharmacist. Because of the medical facilities we have in our town, including the telepharmacy, many elderly have been able to stay in their homes longer than they might otherwise be able to."

Joe Bohlman, retired teacher
New England, North Dakota

The goal of the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project is to restore and retain pharmacy services in communities that have lost or are at risk of losing their pharmacy services. 

For rural communities, a telepharmacy means: 

• local access to a pharmacist and pharmacy services 
• safe, timely delivery of medications 
• enhanced economic development through new businesses and added jobs 
• better climate for recruiting and retaining health care providers 
• increased potential for attracting new businesses and families to the community 

To date, the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project has added: 

• a $500,000 per year business to the rural community 
• an estimated total of $12 million to the state's rural economy 
• an estimated 40 to 50 new jobs in the rural marketplace

Is Telepharmacy Right for My Community?

Before answering this big question, you will need to answer some smaller but equally important questions.  They relate to the needs and resources of your community and to your community's interest in and willingness to support a telepharmacy.  

Your community's needs and resources 

Answering the following questions will help you discover:

• How and where your community's pharmacy services are being met now? 
• What resources beyond your community could impact these services? 
• What resources your community has to support a local telepharmacy? 

Discovering how your community's pharmacy needs are being met now.

• What pharmacy services are available in your community now? 
• Where do residents currently go to receive pharmacy services? 
• How far must residents go to receive these services? 
• How accessible is the nearest pharmacy? 
• Are there segments of the population for whom obtaining pharmacy services presents a particular challenge or concern? 

Discovering what resources beyond your community could impact pharmacy service.

• Is there at least one pharmacist within 60 miles who would potentially be willing and able to establish, open, and maintain a telepharmacy in your community? 
• How extensive is the surrounding area that looks to your community for medical and other services? 
• What is the estimated population of that area? 

• Discovering what resources your community has to support a local telepharmacy.

• What is the population of your community?  What percentage of your population is over 60? 
• Who are your community leaders and what is their commitment to improving local assess to health care? 
• What resources, including building space, does your community have to contribute to a telepharmacy operation? 
• How many and what type of health care providers are in the community? 
• How many and what type of health care facilities are available in the community? (hospitals, rural health centers, nursing homes, clinics, etc) 
• What is the estimated number of prescriptions written by local/area health care providers per day? 
• What transmission or connectivity capabilities are available in the community? 

• Your community's interest in and willingness to support a telepharmacy.  

  Conducting a survey like the sample below will help you discover

• How residents feel about the accessibility of their present pharmacy services 
• What the attitude of residents is toward telepharmacy services 
• How willing residents are to use a telepharmacy to obtain their prescriptions        

Determining the needs and resources of your community and your community's interest in and willingness to support a telepharmacy will help you do two important things.  It will help you and other community leaders decide for yourselves whether a telepharmacy is right for your community.  If you decide that it is, the information you have collected and evaluated will be invaluable to you in taking the next step toward making a local telepharmacy a reality.  That step is finding a registered pharmacist within 60 miles or so who is willing and able to develop, establish, and maintain a telepharmacy in your community.  The information you have compiled can be a powerful tool in marketing your community to a prospective pharmacist partner.

A partnership between your community and a regional pharmacist by way of a telepharmacy can benefit your community by making high quality pharmacy services more accessible and by providing a positive economic impact.  It can benefit a pharmacist partner by providing him or her with additional income and the opportunity for a more flexible work schedule.  Telepharmacy can help create a win-win situation for rural communities and for pharmacists serving rural communities.

Pharmacy Services Survey

1.  I usually get my prescription drugs:

1. 1. By picking them up at a pharmacy 
   2. By asking someone else to pick them up at a pharmacy 
   3. By delivery from a pharmacy 
   4. Through the mail from a <country-region>U.S.</country-region> pharmacy 
   5. Through the mail from a Canadian pharmacy 
   6. Through the internet 

How do you feel about your present pharmacy services?

       *Please circle your answers to the following questions.

2.  I am able to get the pharmacy services I need whenever I need them.

3.   I am satisfied with the pharmacy services I am receiving. 

4.  My pharmacy has a convenient location.

5.  There have been times I have not had a prescription filled because it was inconvenient.

6.  My pharmacist is readily available to help me.

7.  I feel comfortable with the level of information I get when I have a prescription filled?

How do you feel about telepharmacy services? 

       *Please circle your answers to the following questions.

8.  Local telepharmacy services would make getting prescriptions filled more convenient.   

9.  I have confidence in the accuracy of telepharmacy services.

10.  Obtaining medication through a telepharmacy is safe.

11.  I am willing to use telepharmacy services to get my prescriptions filled.  

12.  Having a local telepharmacy would increase my access to medical care.

13.  Having a local telepharmacy will benefit my community.