Kevin B. Sneed, Pharm.D. is the Senior Associate Vice-President of USF Health as well as a tenured Professor and the founding Dean of the University of South Florida College of Pharmacy. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology with a concentration in Microbiology from the University of Central Florida. Dr. Sneed received his Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy, where he received numerous clinical and leadership awards. He completed an Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Practice Specialty Residency at Bay Pines Veteran’s Administration Medical Center. The University of South Florida’s "Pharmacy of the Future," Pharmacy Plus features Rx Medic ADS technology and will open its doors to patients in February.

Was there a moment or series of moments in your education or experience that made you realize that the current pharmacy model is not sustainable? What is driving this change?

I don’t know if it was a single moment, but I’ve spent the last 15 years in primary care in the clinical pharmacy as part of the department of family medicine, so I have had an insight into the world of healthcare that many pharmacists have not traditionally had. When I couple those experiences with my own knowledge and my students’ experiences in community pharmacies, I’ve known for quite a while that there needed be a significant shift and become more patient-centric.

Can you elaborate on patient-centric? Are the needs of the patient shaping what the pharmacy of the future will look like?

Absolutely. If we pay attention to how rapidly technology is emerging it really does tell you that you have to meet the patient on their terms. We have to evolve practice and reimbursement models that will allow us to maintain a high standard of patient care. I know we’ve had a model in place for 30-40 years now, but that same model is not going to sustain us over the next 25.

As medicine moves toward more patient-centered care and technology continues to become more sophisticated, how do some of these innovations and ideals translate into concrete practices? How do you plan the pharmacy of the future?

One of the first things that I do is ask the question, "What would people want in an ideal world?" If you can envision that the next thing you do is start putting the components together to make that attainable. You have to have a clear vision, and you have to be able to articulate that vision, and then you can create it. I think that’s a big part of what we’re doing with Pharmacy Plus, and I think that’s a big part of what we’re doing with healthcare overall.

There are many areas where it may seem abstract, but I like to tell people the best way to predict the future is to create it. That’s something I live by. You go about creating models for the things that need changing. You build consensus as you go along and share your vision and then as long as you are doing things for the right reason, which is in this case is improved and more efficient patient care, then it won’t be hard for people to buy into it at some point in time.

Is there one particular innovation or area that you are particularly excited about implementing?

One area I’m really excited about is the potential for mobile and wearable technology to allow improved communication between the patient and all their providers about the health state of the patient. We are really focusing a lot on wearable technology and mobile technology. These innovations will lead to better communication for the whole healthcare team.

What sorts of benefits do you anticipate for patients?

What we fully expect is a much more educated and much more engaged patient when it comes to their health. These technologies provide the ability to be able to accomplish that…we always talk about how to educate patients, but I think this will take that even one step further with real engagement of the patient with their own health and wellness. We anticipate that this will lead to better outcomes.

Are you saying that by utilizing apps and wearables, the more the patient is made aware of the state of their health? By having unlimited access to this information along with real-time feedback on how their actions, such as diet and medication compliance can affect that, the more engaged they will be?

That’s exactly what we’re anticipating. I believe that the community pharmacy has the greatest opportunity to enhance that patient engagement experience. There is no other area in health care where you can duplicate that level of access that community pharmacies offer.

The Pharmacy Plus "Pharmacy of the Future" features the RxMedic Automated Dispensing System (ADS). This robot has the capacity to dispense 256 different medications as well as fill up to 80% of prescription volume per day. Can you describe the ways that automation is improving patient care in the pharmacy?

Automation, such as the RxMedic ADS, allows the pharmacist to do what they’ve really been trained to do, which is to be engaged in patient care management. You don’t really have to go to school to put pills in the bottle. You go to school to know exactly what the pills in the bottle are going to do to achieve a health outcome. At Pharmacy Plus, the RxMedic ADS will maximize the opportunity to for the pharmacist to work with the patient and the medical team to achieve the best outcome.

I know there is some concern that automation is going to take away some people’s jobs. As I recently told a community pharmacist, that there will be new job- a new job that we will be part of creating. I hope we get to a point where dispensing product is a part of the job- but it’s not the job. We still need to get reimbursed for that product, but that will be one component of the overall healthcare that the pharmacist is providing for the patient.