From point of dispensing to point of care: the next evolution of pharmacies

For decades, pharmacies occupied a very clear place within the health system: they were the access point to medications. Its value proposition was based on proximity, trust and the availability of health products.

Today, that model faces new challenges. The pressure on margins, growing competition from digital channels, market concentration and the evolution of consumer habits are forcing pharmacy chains to rethink how to differentiate themselves and generate value in an increasingly competitive environment.

Faced with this scenario, a question arises that can define the future of the sector: what place will a pharmacy occupy if dispensing ceases to be its main differential?

The question is not minor. In a context where medicines can be purchased online, arrive at the patient's home in a few hours or be integrated into increasingly direct agreements between different actors in the value chain, the pharmacy runs the risk of becoming an intermediary in an increasingly automated process.

For this reason, the discussion is no longer just about defending the current business, but rather about identifying what the next growth model for the sector could be.

For years, many strategies sought to respond to this challenge by expanding assortments, incorporating more profitable categories or promoting cross-selling. Although these initiatives can improve results, they share the same logic: continue capturing value mainly through product marketing.

However, there is an opportunity for deeper transformation.

Pharmacies can evolve from a model focused on dispensing to one that combines health products and services. Instead of participating only at the end of the care journey, they can take a more active role in guidance, prevention, monitoring and resolution of low-complexity needs.

At the same time, health is also changing.

People are looking for a more continuous relationship with their well-being. Prevention, monitoring of chronic diseases and resolution of daily health needs gain prominence. Meanwhile, health systems face growing challenges of access, availability of professionals and capacity to care.

It is at the intersection of these two transformations where a unique opportunity appears for pharmacies.

Few actors in the system have attributes that are so difficult to replicate. Pharmacies combine territorial capillarity, health legitimacy, proximity, trust and a frequency of contact with patients that few can match. What for other organizations would require building a network from scratch, pharmacies already have it.

For this reason, in different markets the incorporation of low-complexity health services within pharmacies is beginning to expand, progressively expanding their role within the health ecosystem. This evolution, known in many countries as Retail Clinic, seeks to bring care, guidance and prevention capabilities closer to places where people already regularly interact with the health system.

The need to rethink the model does not only respond to an international trend. In Argentina, 84.5% of the consultations carried out in guards of private institutions correspond to low-risk reasons, according to a survey by ADECRA+CEDIM released in 2024. The data demonstrates a reality known to the health system: a significant part of the demand continues to reach spaces designed to resolve more complex cases, generating pressure on resources that could be allocated to truly critical situations.

While Argentina is still looking for how to reorganize that demand, some markets have already begun to build a response. In Brazil, pharmacies performed more than 14 million clinical services for 8.3 million patients in 2024, mainly linked to the prevention and monitoring of chronic diseases. The pharmacy thus ceases to be only the place where a treatment ends and also becomes one of the main access points to care.

Evolution is not limited to the region either. In the United States, CVS Health operates more than 1,100 MinuteClinic locations within its pharmacies, and more than half of the population lives within 10 miles of one of them. International experience shows that the challenge is no longer incorporating an office within a pharmacy, but rather designing an integrated model that combines in-person care, assisted telemedicine, telediagnosis using connected devices, prevention and continuous monitoring. The opportunity is already validated; The difference lies in how each organization decides to capture it.

Together, these data show two sides of the same opportunity: a system that needs new resolution points and a network of pharmacies with the capacity to become an active part of the response.

Unlike what is often imagined, these models do not require replicating the infrastructure of a traditional medical center. The combination of technology, connected devices and care protocols allows services to be incorporated in a progressive and scalable way, with significantly lower investments than conventional models. Thus, a pharmacy can start with specific services such as assisted telemedicine, preventive controls, rapid diagnostic tests, monitoring of chronic patients, monitoring of respiratory diseases or wellness programs, and gradually expand its proposal based on demand and the results obtained. The opportunity also has relevant implications for the business.

For patients, integrating professional guidance, care, access to treatment and follow-up within the same point of contact allows reducing friction, simplifying journeys and accelerating the resolution of health needs. At the same time, it promotes continuity of care and strengthens adherence to treatments.

For pharmacies, the incorporation of services can increase the frequency of interaction with customers, strengthen loyalty, generate new sources of income and build relationships that are less dependent on the one-time sale of medications.

In other words, the pharmacy stops capturing value solely through dispensing and begins to build a broader proposal based on services, support and continuity of care.

However, this evolution requires much more than incorporating a new feature or adding a technological platform. It involves developing operational capabilities, integrating digital tools, building alliances with providers and financiers, and redesigning the patient experience in a comprehensive way.

The organizations that manage to do so will be in a position to occupy an increasingly relevant place within the next stage of evolution of the sector.

For decades, pharmacies were mainly the last link in the healthcare journey: the place to access treatment after a medical consultation. The transformation that is beginning to develop in different markets poses a much more profound change.

Thanks to the combination of proximity, trust, territorial capillarity and new technological capabilities, pharmacies have the opportunity to become one of the main physical access points to the health system. Not only as spaces where medications are dispensed, but as places where people can orient themselves, prevent, monitor their health and resolve low-complexity needs.

In a context where access, prevention and continuity of care are becoming increasingly relevant, this may be one of the most significant transformations that the pharmaceutical sector will experience in the coming years.