Emerging Opportunities for Pharmacists to Improve Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

The changing organization, financing, and priorities of the U.S. health care system are creating new imperatives for employers, health care insurers, hospitals, and especially interprofessional health care practitioners. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 was created with the aim of decreasing overall health care cost, improving access to health care, and improving health care quality, while including provisions that support coordinated health care practitioner collaboration within the system. This coordinated collaboration among health professions has the potential to provide comprehensive, population-based, cost-effective, and high-quality patient care and a new emphasis on health promotion, wellness, and disease prevention. This commentary will describe the role of the ACA in facilitating these health care system changes and opportunities for pharmacists and other health care professionals to be a part of this change due to implementation of provisions within the ACA.