Nearly 300,000 Alaskans — almost half of our state’s population — live in areas with limited primary care options.
I have practiced medicine in those communities for the past 17 years as a family and addiction medicine physician. Based in Anchor Point, I provide care on the Kenai Peninsula and, by telemedicine, to remote Native villages. My patients live in places where the nearest physician may be hours away, and where the weather often makes travel impossible.
I have seen firsthand how hard it is for many Alaska patients to access healthcare. For too long, Alaska law has only allowed pharmacists to dispense medicine prescribed by other healthcare providers. House Bill 195 would increase access to care by giving pharmacists new prescribing and patient-care authority. For every Alaskan who has skipped care because getting to a clinic means taking a day off work and finding transportation, additional access points cannot come soon enough.
The Alaska Legislature has already done its part in passing HB 195. Now, I strongly urge Gov. Mike Dunleavy to sign the bill into law.
Pharmacies are one of the most accessible healthcare destinations in Alaska, making community pharmacists a constant medical presence, especially in rural and remote communities. They are familiar faces who know which medications a patient is already taking, ask the right personal health questions, and are typically available without an appointment and during extended hours that fit a working family’s schedule. Pharmacists are a natural part of the care team, and HB 195 gives them the authority to function as one.
HB 195 modernizes what trained pharmacists are permitted to do within clear, defined boundaries. If the bill is signed into law, a pharmacist could independently treat routine conditions, such as an uncomplicated UTI, strep throat confirmed by a rapid test, or conjunctivitis. These are common needs that currently leave Alaskans waiting for a doctor’s appointment that can be difficult to get.
The legislation also removes longstanding barriers to collaborative practice agreements, or CPAs, arrangements that allow pharmacists and physicians to work together. The measure allows pharmacists and physicians to establish the agreement jointly and define exactly what patient care the pharmacist may provide. That flexibility will greatly improve access to care for many Alaskans. One critical area the agreements unlock is medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, for opioid use disorder, or OUD. Alaska continues to face significant OUD challenges, and MAT is the evidence-based standard of care. The medications support long-term recovery. But many Alaskans face access barriers that prevent providers from prescribing the medication and monitoring for success.
Our state’s Rural Health Transformation Program plan identified pharmacist prescriptive authority as a key policy priority. HB 195 is the legislative vehicle to give pharmacists that authority and to expand access to needed services.
This bill helps our state build a healthcare system that is uniquely Alaskan. Our state is large, remote, and chronically short on providers. Giving pharmacists the authority to use their knowledge to better care for patients, all within defined, regulated and referral-ready guardrails, is a common-sense way to better serve Alaska families. None of this displaces physician-led care. It supports and complements it, reaching patients the system currently isn’t.
I have spent 17 years trying to reach patients where they are. HB 195 gives our care teams the ability to provide more access to care than ever before. Gov. Dunleavy should sign HB 195 into law.
Dr. Sarah Spencer, DO, FASAM, is a family and addiction medicine physician based in Anchor Point, volunteer medical director of Alaska’s first rural syringe access program and co-author of the state’s Medications for Addiction Treatment guide.
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