The SDOH Advantage: A Pharmacist Manager’s Guide
- aPHP
- Jul 4
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 18
Summary: Expose the myths, unlock the data, and activate SDOH-informed pharmacy care. This guide equips the pharmacist manager, whether in community, clinical, or managed care settings, with practical, real-world strategies to transform pharmacy practice.
Why SDOH Belongs in Every Pharmacy Workflow
Every pharmacy visit reflects social determinants of health (SDOH). From pickup to counseling, social factors define the experience. These nonmedical factors include stable housing, reliable income, access to food, and transportation. Each plays a direct role in how individuals manage medications, attend appointments, and experience healthcare.
In pharmacy, SDOH manifests in ways that influence both clinical and operational outcomes. A patient living in a pharmacy desert may have to travel long distances to fill prescriptions, even with insurance. Another may struggle to access telepharmacy services due to digital health barriers.
Although many link SDOH to the COVID-19 era, these influences have long shaped health outcomes. What changed was visibility. Today, pharmacy managers recognize that pharmacy teams often serve as the first and sometimes only point of contact for patients navigating social and economic barriers.
Dispelling Common Myths About SDOH in Pharmacy Practice
Pharmacy managers must understand how SDOH affects population health and how persistent myths distort pharmacy practice. These false assumptions shape counseling, workflow decisions, and how teams interpret patient behavior. Addressing them is the first step toward equity-focused care.
A myth, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “an unfounded or false notion.”⁸ In healthcare, such misconceptions hinder progress, interfere with clinical judgment, and lead to decisions that unintentionally deepen disparities. When pharmacy teams operate based on myths about SDOH, they overlook opportunities to deliver person-centered care and reduce structural barriers.
These myths drive stereotypes, particularly ethnic, cultural, and geographic ones, that distort how patients are perceived and understood. A patient from a rural community may be labeled as nonadherent rather than recognized as lacking access to transportation.
A caregiver with an accent may be viewed as ineffective when the actual issue lies in the system’s failure to provide practical communication tools. When left unchallenged, these assumptions shape clinical decisions and determine whether trust is built or broken.
Dispelling myths does more than correct misinformation. It cultivates critical thinking and strengthens cultural and structural humility, two essential skills for pharmacy teams working in diverse care environments. Through SDOH-focused pharmacy training, managers help minimize bias at the point of care and shift pharmacy culture toward greater equity.
Training that reduces implicit bias through cultural and structural humility better aligns pharmacy practice with evidence-based, person-centered care. This approach improves health outcomes and prevents disparities from being reinforced through routine decisions, workflows, or benefit structures.
Addressing myths requires intention. It is a foundational step toward eliminating the blind spots that affect how pharmacists engage with their patients, assess care gaps, and design inclusive pharmacy systems. Below, we examine three persistent myths that continue to affect pharmacy practice across all settings. By addressing these myths, pharmacy managers sharpen their team’s lens on equity and build systems that work for everyone.
Myth #1: SDOH Is a New Concept in Pharmacy
Pharmacy managers must ensure their teams understand the long-standing role of SDOH in healthcare and pharmacy. While the pandemic amplified conversations about disparities, initiatives such as Healthy People 2020 and the WHO’s Essential Medicines List (EML) have long underscored the connection between access to medication and public health.⁴ ⁵
The EML outlines medicines that address the most critical health needs of populations, but 2 billion people globally still lack access to these essential treatments.⁴ Both local care gaps and global forces, such as intellectual property rights, pricing monopolies, supply chains, and health diplomacy, shape access to medicines (ATM).⁴ As trusted medication experts, pharmacists play a crucial role in navigating these barriers.
Pharmacy managers must train teams to recognize that medication access itself is a social determinant, and pharmacists are central to solving it.
Roles in Action:
Community Pharmacist Managers train staff to recognize medication access as a core social determinant and incorporate essential medicines education into team workflows.
Managed Care Pharmacists use population needs and the WHO’s Essential Medicines List to guide coverage discussions and inform formulary development.
Clinical Pharmacists highlight access-related disparities during care rounds and advocate for formulary alignment with real-world patient needs.
Myth #2: Pharmacists Have No Role in Addressing SDOH
Pharmacist managers oversee workflows that extend far beyond dispensing. Across all settings, pharmacists routinely solve care problems shaped by social risk factors, often serving as the first line of support for patients navigating access barriers.
Manager’s Note: Equip your team to address the social factors contributing to nonadherence, poor outcomes, or delayed treatment. These workflows strengthen your pharmacy team’s role in person-centered, equity-driven care.
Roles in Action:
Community Pharmacist Managers train teams to identify social risk factors during patient interactions and while recommending OTC alternatives.
Managed Care Pharmacists analyze claims to identify patterns of non-adherence linked to social barriers and collaborate with health plans to adjust coverage.
Clinical Pharmacists advocate for care coordination rounds that integrate social risk factors alongside clinical decisions.
Myth #3: SDOH Only Affects Low-Income Pharmacy Populations
Social determinants of health significantly impact people across all income levels. For instance, maternity care deserts, food insecurity, and transportation challenges affect patients in both urban and rural areas, and are increasingly prevalent in suburban regions.⁶ ⁷ These barriers complicate access to medication, chronic disease management, and care coordination.
Although suburbs have a lower uninsured rate, they account for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s uninsured population, despite comprising only 38 percent of the American population.⁹
Roles in Action:
Community Pharmacist Managers lead efforts to assess SDOH during medication reconciliation and provide multilingual and low-literacy resources.
Managed Care Pharmacists evaluate how health plan design affects SDOH-related barriers across demographic groups.
Clinical Pharmacists expand outreach to patients in digital or pharmacy deserts through telepharmacy services and remote pharmacy care models.
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Pharmacy Strategies
Pharmacist managers must guide their teams to address SDOH by embedding strategic, person-centered interventions into daily workflow. These approaches strengthen equity, improve clinical outcomes, and ensure that pharmacy services reflect the real-world challenges patients face.
Below are five key focus areas pharmacist managers may use to structure and scale SDOH-responsive pharmacy care:
Promote Adherence Through Medication Synchronization and Support:
Launch refill synchronization programs.
Example: Coordinate 30- or 90-day refills for chronic disease medications, especially for patients with transportation barriers.
Use EHRs and medication therapy management (MTM) platforms to identify nonadherence.
Example: Flag missed diabetes medication refills for patients in rural ZIP codes and trigger follow-up calls or case management referral.
Educate with Cultural Competency:
Train teams in language-accessible and inclusive counseling.
Example: Provide continuing education on inclusive terminology and demonstrate use of nonverbal communication in multilingual settings.
Create workflows for interpreter services and plain language education.
Example: Integrate live interpreter lines or tablet-based language access tools at the point of counseling for non-English-speaking patients.
Build Community Partnerships:
Collaborate with health departments, social workers, and nonprofit organizations.
Example: Refer patients facing housing insecurity to public health navigators during MTM sessions.
Facilitate mobile clinics or community health events.
Example: Partner with a regional food bank to host a blood pressure screening and medication access event in a known food desert.
Use Telepharmacy and Digital Tools:
Provide virtual medication counseling.
Example: Offer video-based MTM reviews for patients who are homebound or living in remote areas.
Implement automated refill and outreach reminders.
Example: Use SMS or app-based reminders to prompt adherence in patients managing multiple prescriptions or with cognitive barriers.
Improve Formulary Design and Coverage Navigation:
Incorporate patient needs into coverage strategy.
Example: Review formulary tiering decisions with social risk data to prevent unintentional cost barriers for low-access patients.
Train staff to assist with formulary access and alternate medication solutions.
Example: Equip staff with quick-reference tools to recommend covered therapeutic alternatives and connect patients with manufacturer assistance programs.
Pharmacist Manager Checklist for Advancing SDOH-Aligned Care
Pharmacist managers may use this checklist to structure their team’s SDOH efforts:
Conduct training on SDOH principles and responsibilities every 60 days.
Create referral workflows for community-based services (e.g., food banks, transportation), at least once a month, for all patients.
Include SDOH screening tools (e.g., PRAPARE tool with CMS G0136 code) in patient onboarding and care plan protocols, with translated versions available as needed.
Review medication access, refill trends, and care gaps every 30 days.
Measure and report impact every 90 days by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) embedded within quality improvement dashboards.
Visualizing the Pharmacy Impact: Example Infographic
Sample infographic data from San Diego:
Total outreach calls: 201
Reached patients: 121
Voicemails: 41
Unreachable: 39
Medication in Question: Soliqua
Number of interventions: 98
Top interventions: Food insecurity, transportation, formulary access
Pharmacists utilized this data to redesign workflows that addressed real-world barriers in medically underserved populations, ensuring services were timely, relevant, and accessible, a strategy championed by Dr. La Kesha Y. Farmer through her work in equity-informed pharmacy design.
This infographic evolved into more than just a summary. It helped pharmacist managers demonstrate value, align strategy across interdisciplinary population health management teams, and build support for equity-informed clinical care.
SDOH-informed care sets the new standard for pharmacy excellence. Through structured training, intentional design, and policy-aware practice, pharmacist managers ensure their teams deliver care that reflects both clinical rigor and social reality.
The Academy of Population Health Pharmacy's Expert-led SDOH Training
What sets the Academy of Population Health Pharmacy (aPHP) apart? Its strength lies in a solid foundation. Every educational resource is developed by Dr. Farmer, a board-certified pharmacist with managerial expertise and lived experience addressing health disparities in both clinical and community settings.
As a clinical pharmacy subject matter expert in social determinants of health (SDOH), Dr. Farmer brings cultural fluency and applied insight to each training module, ensuring that the content delivers real-world strategies and lasting relevance.
aPHP was created to bridge a critical training gap in the pharmacy field. Pharmacists across all care settings are increasingly expected to address SDOH through patient-centered, equity-driven practices. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic exposed a challenge: while pharmacists were called upon to respond to SDOH, many lacked the formal training or lived experience needed to act effectively.
While tasked with supporting patients facing barriers related to housing, transportation, food access, and systemic inequities, most pharmacists lacked the necessary tools and frameworks to respond effectively to these challenges. aPHP is changing that, equipping pharmacists with training that turns awareness into action.
aPHP equips pharmacist managers and clinical teams to translate awareness into action. From embedding SDOH screening tools to leading equity-driven workflow redesigns, pharmacy professionals gain the structure and knowledge to transform care delivery.
aPHP training emphasizes:
Practical integration of tools like PRAPARE and CMS G0136 into pharmacy workflows
Cultural and structural humility across all levels of patient care
Strategies for reducing implicit bias through applied case scenarios
CPD-aligned content supported by toolkits and real-world implementation guides
Population health models tailored to community, managed care, and clinical pharmacy settings
Ready to implement? Visit us here to access tools, resources, and CPD-aligned training to support SDOH leadership in your pharmacy.
Pharmacist-Led Solutions for Advancing SDOH in Population Health
Social determinants of health remain central to the practice of pharmacy. Pharmacists, especially those in management roles, lead pharmacist-led solutions that align SDOH with population health priorities. Whether improving formulary access, coordinating synchronized refills, or guiding inclusive team education, manager pharmacists shape how equity becomes operational across care settings.
This guide addressed common myths, clarified pharmacist roles across settings, and offered practical steps to integrate SDOH into pharmacy workflows. The message is clear: identifying social risks must lead to action. Through structured design, strong partnerships, and person-centered leadership, pharmacist managers position their teams to respond effectively to the realities of patient care.
Pharmacy teams impact more than outcomes. They influence how trust is built, how gaps are closed, and how systems are shaped to serve all patients. Pharmacist managers drive this transformation by embedding equity into every encounter.
Awareness opens the door. Strategy drives the change. When pharmacists lead with equity, focus, and purpose, they advance pharmacist-led population health solutions that elevate clinical performance and human dignity.
Lead the shift. Advance pharmacy strategy. Champion care that meets patients where they are.
References
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Archives. "Rural Americans at Higher Risk of Death From Five Leading Causes." Archive.cdc.gov, archive.cdc.gov/#/details?url=www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0112-rural-death-risk.html. Accessed 14 Nov 2024.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). "CMS Manual System Pub 100-04 Medicare Claims Processing." 2024, www.cms.gov/files/document/r12865cp.pdf. Accessed 17 July 2025.
Chattu, Vijay Kumar, et al. "Access to Medicines through Global Health Diplomacy." Health Promotion Perspectives, vol. 13, no. 1, Apr. 2023, pp. 40–46, https://doi.org/10.34172/hpp.2023.05. Accessed 18 July 2025.
"Healthy People 2020 Objective Topic Areas and Page Numbers." ldh.la.gov/assets/docs/GovCouncil/MinHealth/HP2020objectives.pdf. Accessed 18 July 2025.
Marsh, Tori. "48.4 Million Americans Lack Convenient Access to a Pharmacy." GoodRx, 31 July 2024, www.goodrx.com/healthcare-access/research/many-americans-lack-convenient-access-to-pharmacies?srsltid=AfmBOor7Y-Kb0v_BqigKlw7AVd33ldOLmDBCZdjDA9WnBAyzLIyZksz3. Accessed 18 July 2025.
March of Dimes. "Maternity Care Deserts Report." Marchofdimes.org, 2022, www.marchofdimes.org/maternity-care-deserts-report-2022.
Merriam Webster. "Definition of MYTH." Merriam-Webster.com, 2019, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myth. Accessed 7 July 2025.
Schnake-Mahl, Alina S., and Benjamin D. Sommers. "Health Care in the Suburbs: An Analysis of Suburban Poverty and Health Care Access." Health Affairs, 2017. Cited in “Is Health Care Access Limited in the Suburbs?” Urban Institute Blog, 10 Apr. 2024. Accessed 7 July 2025.
“The PRAPARE Screening Tool.” PRAPARE, prapare.org/the-prapare-screening-tool/. Accessed 17 July 2025.
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