Through the years, being married to a pharmacy organization director gave me many opportunities to hear the scuttlebutt about “provider status.” I interpreted this issue as pharmacists wanting to be recognized as healthcare professionals and to be paid for their services…well, paid more.
According to an APhA website , provider status does involve
… pharmacists … one of the few healthcare professionals that lack recognition as health care providers in federal law.
Meanwhile in the state of Colorado, pharmacists are recognized as healthcare providers in the Colorado Revised Statutes. A significant acknowledgement was achieved during the last (2012) pharmacy sunset when pharmacists were “moved” from General Professions and Occupations in the CRS to the Health Care section as shown in this image.
In addition, I performed a cursory search for “pharmacist” in Colorado’s Revised Statutes including the Pharmacy Pratice Act and found at least eleven instances where pharmacist had been recently added to the list of healthcare providers. What do think about that?