In the I/DD and behavioral health world, every hour and every dollar matters. Staffing is stretched. Resources are tight, and every minute pulled away from direct support has a ripple effect on the people you support. Yet in many organizations, staff spend a surprising amount of time on pharmacy-related tasks: tracking down refills, calling about missing medications, resolving errors and insurance hurdles, or arranging last-minute “med runs” to avoid a crisis.
Most of the time these efforts are invisible. Things get fixed, people get what they need, and the day moves on. But there’s a cost. Those daily “workarounds” may be quietly draining time, energy, and money from your organization. These are valuable resources, and you should be empowered to claim them back.
Is Your Pharmacy a Vendor—or a Partner?
One helpful question for leaders to ask is: Is our pharmacy simply filling prescriptions, or is it actively supporting our mission?
A true pharmacy partner understands how your homes operate, how your teams communicate, and what your regulatory and financial pressures look like. When that alignment is present, pharmacy begins to reduce burden—not create more of it.
You might experience things like:
- Fewer calls to “chase” medications or refills
- Clear, timely communication when prescriptions change
- Fewer last-minute crises before audits or site visits
- More time for DSPs, nurses, and QIDPs to focus on people instead of paperwork
Individually, these improvements seem small. But over time, they create greater stability, smoother workflows, and more capacity across the organization. Simply put, the pharmacy should feel like a member of your team with the same goals for your organization.
How Pharmacy Can Support Workforce Well-Being
Burnout remains a major concern for providers. In some healthcare settings, up to 70% of workers report high levels of stress or burnout.
Pharmacy may not be the first place you look when addressing workforce well-being—but
it quietly shapes your staff’s day-to-day experience. Think about the difference between:
- Staff spending hours each week on hold, reconciling MARs, or resolving medication discrepancies
…versus…
- Staff having clear workflows, easy access to accurate information, and predictable medication delivery
When pharmacy processes work smoothly, teams no longer feel like they are “fighting the system” just to keep people safe. That can make a meaningful difference in stress levels, job satisfaction, and retention within your organization .
Is Your Technology Simplifying Care or Complicating It?
Technology can lighten the load—or add one more system to manage. As you evaluate your tools, consider:
- Do staff have one place to check medication lists, deliveries, and refills?
- Can they easily see what’s been ordered, what’s on the way, and what needs attention?
- Are alerts helpful—or overwhelming?
- Does your pharmacy align well with your MAR or eMAR workflows?
If many answers are “no,” there may be an opportunity to simplify and streamline daily operations.
Questions to Reflect on Before the New Year
As you prepare for 2026, it may be useful to take a step back and assess your current pharmacy partnership:
- Is our pharmacy giving staff time back, or taking more of it?
- Is it helping us reduce risk, or increasing the chances of an error?
- Does it support our compliance efforts, or leave us scrambling before audits?
- Are we adapting our operations around its limitations—or is it adapting to ours?
There’s no perfect pharmacy relationship, and every provider’s needs are different. But asking these questions can help ensure that this essential service is truly aligned with your mission: supporting people with disabilities to live full, self-directed lives in the community.
Kristi Torres is the Senior Director of Account Management at Tarrytown Expocare Pharmacy.