When most people think of telehealth, they picture a patient and a physician on a video call. The pharmacist doesn’t typically enter that mental image. But pharmacy-delivered telehealth, telepharmacy, is one of the fastest-growing and most clinically impactful applications of virtual care, and it’s quietly changing how medication management, chronic disease support, and patient counseling are delivered across the country.
Here’s how pharmacies are using telehealth, what the evidence shows about outcomes, and why the combination of pharmacist expertise and virtual care infrastructure is a powerful one.
What Is Telepharmacy?
Telepharmacy is the delivery of pharmaceutical care through telecommunications technology. It encompasses a range of services: real-time video consultations between pharmacists and patients, medication therapy management (MTM) delivered virtually, prescription verification and counseling through secure video, and chronic disease monitoring with pharmacist-led follow-up.
Unlike telehealth visits with physicians, telepharmacy visits are primarily focused on medication, reviewing what a patient is taking, identifying potential interactions, improving adherence, counseling on side effects, and managing complex regimens for patients with multiple chronic conditions. Pharmacists are uniquely positioned for this role, and telehealth removes the geography and logistics barriers that previously limited their reach.
Medication Therapy Management: The Cornerstone Use Case
Medication therapy management (MTM) is a structured pharmacist-delivered service for patients with chronic conditions who take multiple medications. It includes comprehensive medication reviews, identification of drug interactions and adverse effects, patient education, and coordination with prescribing physicians.
CMS updated its MTM program requirements in 2024, explicitly mandating that comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs) be conducted through real-time telehealth consultations, recognizing that video-based delivery is both clinically appropriate and operationally superior to phone-only contact for this level of clinical engagement. The update also added HIV/AIDS to the core chronic diseases requiring MTM coverage under Medicare Part D, expanding the patient population that benefits from these services.
The clinical evidence supporting MTM via telehealth is solid. Research on pharmacist-delivered telepharmacy programs for patients with type 2 diabetes found significant improvements in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values following comprehensive medication reviews, a direct clinical outcome measure. MTM programs consistently show reduced medication-related problems, improved adherence, and lower overall healthcare utilization.
How Pharmacies Are Using Telehealth in Practice
Chain and independent retail pharmacies are using secure video consultations to extend pharmacist counseling beyond the counter. Patients who pick up a new prescription can schedule a five- or ten-minute video consult to discuss proper use, potential interactions with other medications, and what side effects to watch for. For patients starting complex regimens, immunosuppressants, anticoagulants, psychiatric medications, this consultation is clinically significant, not merely informational.
Hospital and health system pharmacies are deploying telepharmacy for transitions of care. When a patient is discharged from the hospital, a pharmacist-led telehealth visit within 48 to 72 hours can review any new or changed medications, reconcile the discharge prescription list against what the patient was taking before admission, and identify discrepancies that frequently lead to readmissions. This is one of the highest-value telehealth use cases in the hospital setting.
Community health centers and rural pharmacies use telepharmacy to extend clinical pharmacist services to patients in areas without easy access to specialty care. A rural pharmacy can connect patients with a clinical pharmacist specialist, in diabetes management, anticoagulation therapy, or HIV treatment, without requiring the patient to travel. Research on telepharmacy MTM programs in rural Arizona found meaningful reductions in medication-related problems and improvements in chronic disease markers for patients who would otherwise have had no access to these services.
Specialty pharmacies are using telehealth for patient adherence programs. Patients on complex biologic or specialty medications, for conditions like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, or cancer, benefit significantly from regular pharmacist check-ins that monitor adherence, manage side effects, and coordinate with prescribers before problems escalate.
What a Telehealth Platform Needs to Support Pharmacy Care
Pharmacy telehealth has specific requirements that differ from standard clinical visits:
HIPAA compliance at every touchpoint
Every video session, document exchange, and message between pharmacist and patient involves protected health information. The platform must have a signed BAA, end-to-end encryption, and documented security controls. For pharmacies that serve Medicare patients and bill CMS for MTM services, documentation requirements are particularly stringent.
Secure document exchange
MTM visits often involve reviewing medication lists, sharing educational materials, and sending follow-up summaries to the patient and their prescribing provider. A platform with HIPAA-compliant e-documents and secure file transfer handles this within the same workflow as the video session.
Scheduling and automated reminders
MTM programs involve structured follow-up, a comprehensive medication review, then targeted medication reviews at intervals, with reminders sent in advance. Automated scheduling and reminders ensure patients show up and the visit happens within the program timeline.
Easy patient access
Pharmacy patients skew older and often have lower digital literacy than the general population. A platform that requires app downloads, multiple logins, or complex setup will see abandonment. One-click, no-download session access is essential for this population.
Multi-provider support
Pharmacy telehealth often involves coordination between a pharmacist, a prescribing physician, and a care manager. A platform that supports multiple providers within the same account structure, with appropriate access controls, simplifies that coordination.
Reliable video with failover
When a patient is calling from a rural area with limited broadband, or from a community health center with restricted network settings, a single-engine video platform may fail to connect. A hybrid video engine with fallback options ensures the session happens regardless of network conditions.
The Reimbursement Foundation Is Solid
CMS MTM reimbursement for telepharmacy is established and growing. The 2025 MTM program updates not only mandate telehealth delivery for comprehensive medication reviews but also expanded the eligible patient population and updated cost thresholds to cover more Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Many commercial payers have followed CMS’s lead in recognizing pharmacist-delivered telehealth services.
For health systems and integrated delivery networks, telepharmacy also supports broader value-based care goals, reducing preventable readmissions, improving chronic disease metrics, and reducing medication-related adverse events, all of which have direct reimbursement and quality measurement implications.
Why This Matters Beyond the Pharmacy
For healthcare practices that work alongside pharmacists, primary care, internal medicine, chronic disease management programs, telepharmacy creates a collaborative care model that extends the reach of the clinical team without adding physician time. A primary care practice that partners with a clinical pharmacist for MTM telehealth visits can offer a level of medication management support that was previously only available at large academic medical centers.
SecureVideo’s platform supports the full range of telepharmacy use cases: HIPAA-compliant video sessions, secure document exchange, clinical chat for between-session communication, and the reliability infrastructure that pharmacy care demands. Contact our team to discuss how SecureVideo can support your telepharmacy program, or start a free trial to explore the platform directly.