Pharmacist-provided direct patient care has favorable effects across various patient outcomes, health care settings, and disease states. Incorporating pharmacists as health care team members in direct patient care is a viable solution to help improve US health care.

A majority of studies examining the economic effects of pharmacist-provided direct patient care in the United States were limited by their partial cost analyses, study design, and other analysis considerations. A majority of the 20 studies that found positive economic benefits examined pharmacists' interventions involving technical methods or multimodal approaches.

This work was supported in part by funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via a multiyear, interagency grant from the Arizona Department of Health Services. The findings and conclusions presented in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Arizona Department of Health Services. Study concept and design were contributed by M. Johnson, Jastrzab, Hall-Lipsy, Martin, and Warholak. M. Johnson took the lead in data collection, along with K. Johnson, Martin, Jastrzab, and Hall-Lipsy. Data interpretation was performed by Jastrzab, Warholak, and Taylor. The manuscript was written by K. Johnson, M. Johnson, and Jastrzab, along with the other authors, and revised by M. Johnson, Tate, and Taylor, along with Jastrzab, K. Johnson, and Hall-Lipsy. The data from this manuscript were previously presented in poster and podium format by Jastrzab and Johnson at the American Public Health Annual Meeting; Chicago, Illinois; October 31-November 4, 2015.

A literature review revealed significant disparities in the medication treatment received by racial and ethnic minorities and women.

The cases with published legal outcomes found limited professional liability for clinicians who prescribed cephalosporins or carbapenems to a patient with a known penicillin allergy. These results may decrease the litigation fears of practitioners and risk managers within health care systems.