Summary5 min read

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: Elevating Pharmacy as a Strategic Driver in Health Systems

Guest: Paul Green, PharmD (Director of Pharmacy Services, Westchester Medical Center)
Host: Ella Jeffries (Pharmacy Reporter, Becker’s Healthcare)
Date: May 2, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the evolving role of pharmacy within health systems, spotlighting the strategic initiatives and challenges faced by leaders. Dr. Paul Green shares insights on transforming pharmacy from a traditional support role into a central, proactive driver of clinical quality, operational efficiency, and financial stewardship. Key discussions focus on trends in technology, workforce sustainability, expanding pharmacist roles, overcoming barriers, and building a resilient team culture.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Scope of Pharmacy Leadership at Westchester Medical Center

Role Overview (00:34 – 01:43):
- Dr. Green's responsibility covers clinical, operational, and administrative pharmacy services.
- Pharmacy supports a wide array of services: acute care, critical care, oncology, infusion, ambulatory, etc.
- Emphasis on aligning pharmacy operations with broader health system goals around quality, safety, access, and financial stewardship.
- Pharmacy uniquely bridges clinical, operational, and financial domains.

"When it's working well, pharmacy can have a real impact across the organization."
— Paul Green [00:34]

2. Key Trends Shaping Pharmacy

Changing Perceptions & Strategic Value (02:00 – 03:12):
- Shift from viewing pharmacy as a cost center to a strategic driver.
- Pharmacists expanding into more direct patient care, notably in ambulatory and transitions of care.
- Increasing focus on integrating clinical, operational, and financial data for evidence-driven decisions.
- Ongoing supply chain challenges, especially drug shortages, demanding greater operational creativity.

"The most forward thinking organizations are moving away from seeing pharmacy mainly as a cost center and are starting to recognize it as a real driver of clinical value, operational performance and financial impact."
— Paul Green [02:04]

3. Technology and Supply Chain Innovation

Examples and Pilots (03:27 – 04:08):
- Upcoming transition of electronic medical records to enable seamless interconnectivity with dispensing cabinets and infusion pumps.
- Bidirectional data flow enhances oversight and team integration, making pharmacy a more central player in patient care.

"We're going to be able to have some bidirectional interconnectivity between a lot of our systems... That’s really going to allow pharmacy to have a more comprehensive scope and view as to what's going on within the patient's care."
— Paul Green [03:37]

4. Enterprise-Level Pharmacy Transformation

Initiatives at Westchester (04:22 – 05:25):
- Focus on governance, standardization, and ensuring the pharmacy’s voice in system-level decisions.
- Proactive approach: embedding pharmacy in organizational strategy.
- Expanding impact areas include ambulatory and specialty services, oversight of high-cost therapies, and connecting frontline efforts with system goals.
- Workforce sustainability is a major priority, including staffing models, role clarity, and leadership development.

"If the model isn't sustainable for the people doing the work, it's not going to hold."
— Paul Green [05:09]

5. Barriers and Prioritization Challenges

Biggest Hurdles (05:41 – 06:24):
- Vast opportunity makes prioritization difficult; need to identify what to focus on for highest impact.
- Notable quote reflecting prioritization challenge:

"We can do anything, but we can't do everything. And I think that's really where we're at as a network right now, trying to decide where are those key areas and where do we focus."
— Paul Green [05:53]

6. Recent Accomplishments

Achievements in the Past 6–18 Months (06:34 – 07:25):
- Success in aligning pharmacy's daily operations with organizational priorities.
- Progress in structure, accountability, and strategic service design.
- Pride in the pharmacy team’s resilience and commitment through challenging times.
- Intentional shift from maintenance to growth and future-building.

"More than anything, I'm proud that we're not just trying to maintain, we're trying to build something stronger and more intentional for the future."
— Paul Green [07:18]

7. Fostering Teamwork and Pride

Building Organizational Culture (07:39 – 08:11):
- Ongoing focus on communication and clarity of expectations.
- Accountability and alignment with bigger organizational goals are key.
- Leadership strives to connect staff roles with the overall mission.

"The biggest thing that we're trying to do is ensure that there's clear communication... and really work to hold each other accountable to meeting everybody's expectations."
— Paul Green [07:52]

8. Advice for Aspiring Pharmacy Leaders

Career Guidance (08:23 – 09:14):
- See beyond pharmacy; link work to operations, finance, and organizational strategy.
- Build early credibility—follow through, solve problems, communicate, and collaborate.
- Leadership is about demeanor and support, not titles—act like a leader now to be recognized later.

"Don’t wait for a title to start acting like a leader. A lot of leadership is really about how you show up, how you support other people, and how you handle difficult situations."
— Paul Green [08:52]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

"Pharmacy sits in a unique place. We're deeply clinical, but we're also operational and financial.”
— Paul Green [00:57]
"A lot of leadership opportunities come from trust.”
— Paul Green [08:42]

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:34 — Paul Green's introduction and scope of pharmacy services
02:00 — Key trends in pharmacy: clinical, tech, and supply chain shifts
03:27 — Technology pilots: integrating EMR, dispensing, and clinical care
04:22 — Enterprise pharmacy transformation and workforce priorities
05:41 — Barriers to progress and need for prioritization
06:34 — Recent team and operational accomplishments
07:39 — Team building and culture efforts
08:23 — Advice for future pharmacy leaders

Overall Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is forward-looking, practical, and candid, reflecting both the optimism and challenges of leading a complex pharmacy operation in today's health system landscape. Dr. Green emphasizes the rising strategic influence of pharmacy, the importance of technological integration and data, sustainable workforce practices, and the power of clear communication and proactive leadership at all levels.

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Transcript17 lines

[00:00]
A
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Beckers Pharmacy Leadership Podcast. I'm Ella Jeffries, pharmacy reporter with Becker's Healthcare. Today I'm joined by Paul Green, Director of Pharmacy Services at Westchester Medical Center. In this episode, we'll be discussing the key trends shaping pharmacy today, how leaders are navigating change across clinical care, technology and supply chain, and what it takes to build and lead a strong pharmacy program in a complex health system. Dr. Green, thank you so much for joining me today. To start us off, can you please introduce yourself and share a bit more about your role and the scope of your pharmacy operations?
[00:34]
B
Sure. Like you said, I'm Paul Green and I'm the director of Pharmacy Services at Westchester Medical center and that's located in Valhalla, New York and it's the academic flagship of WMC Health Network. My role really sits across clinical, operational and administrative pharmacy services. So I spend a lot of time thinking about not just how pharmacy runs day to day, but how we continue to grow and evolve as a strategic part of the health system at Westchester. Pharmacy supports a pretty broad range of services. Acute care, critical care, oncology, infusion, ambulatory areas, all of it. So a lot of my work is about making sure we have strong operations, are supporting our teams, and are creating better alignment between what pharmacy is doing and what the health system is trying to achieve more broadly in quality, safety, access and financial stewardship. What I really like about this work is that pharmacy sits in a unique place. We're deeply clinical, but we're also operational and financial. When it's working well, pharmacy can have a real impact across the organization.
[01:44]
A
Definitely. I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for that overview. And you know, as you mentioned, there's a lot happening across the pharmacy landscape right now. What key trends or developments are you watching most closely? Whether that be, you know, in clinical practice, technology, or the supply chain?
[02:01]
B
Yeah, there's a few things I'm actually watching currently. One is the continued shift in how pharmacy is viewed inside health systems. I think the most forward thinking organizations are moving away from seeing pharmacy mainly as a cost center and are starting to recognize it as a real driver of clinical value, operational performance and financial impact. I'm also paying a lot of attention to the expansion of pharmacists into more direct patient care roles, especially in ambulatory care, special transitions of care, and areas where pharmacists can help manage complex patients more longitudinally. There's a lot of opportunity there, but it has to be built thoughtfully and tied to outcomes. And then of Course, technology and data. One of the biggest opportunities for pharmacy right now is getting better at connecting clinical, operational and financial data so we can make stronger decisions and better demonstrate our value. And finally, supply chain still matters every single day. Drug shortages are still a major issue, and I think they forced pharmacy leaders to become even more operationally disciplined and creative than they already were.
[03:13]
A
Definitely. Do you have any examples you could share of whether it be that technology aspect you mentioned, some things you guys are piloting or using, or with that supply chain issue things, what are some ways that you guys have gotten to be creative?
[03:28]
B
Yeah, we're really on the cusp of moving into some exciting things technology wise as we transition our electronic medical records system. And in doing that, we're going to be able to have some bidirectional interconnectivity between a lot of our systems, whether that's our automated dispensing cabinets and our infusion pumps all being able to talk directly to the patient's medical record. And that's really going to allow pharmacy to have more comprehensive scope and view as to what's going on within the patient's care, what the nurses are doing, what the providers are doing, and help us to be a more active member of the team.
[04:09]
A
Great example. I love to hear that. Thank you for sharing. Now, looking at your own organization, I know you touched on this a little bit, but what initiatives or areas are you most focused on right now with those key trends in mind?
[04:23]
B
Right now we're really focused on pharmacy transformation at the enterprise level. A lot of that's about governance, standardization and making sure pharmacy has the right voice and system level decisions. I'm very interested in helping move pharmacy from being reactive to more proactive and more embedded in the broader organizational strategy. I'm also excited about areas where Pharmacy can expand its impact, whether that's ambulatory growth, specialty strategy, oversight of high cost therapies, or creating stronger links between frontline pharmacy work and the larger health system goals. And honestly, a big area of focus for me is workforce sustainability. We can have the best ideas in the world, but if the model isn't sustainable for the people doing the work, it's not going to hold. So I'm spending a lot of time thinking about staffing models, role clarity, leadership development, and how we can build systems that are better for both the patients and the teams.
[05:26]
A
Definitely those are some great initiatives. Love to hear them. What would you say are some of the biggest barriers standing in your way right now of following through with some of these initiatives? Whether it be expanding the role of pharmacy or with those workforce initiatives.
[05:42]
B
I think like a lot of systems, there's so much opportunity for pharmacy that sometimes it's difficult to prioritize and pick out where should we start first, what should we really focus on and what's going to have the biggest impact to our healthcare system and the patients that we serve. I know one thing I heard in a talk recently was that we can do anything, but we can't do everything. And I think that's really where we're at as a network right now, trying to decide where are those key areas and where do we focus. And as we identify those items, I think we have nothing but opportunity.
[06:24]
A
Definitely. Thank you for sharing. Now, looking back over the past six to 18 months, what accomplishments are you most proud of within your pharmacy program?
[06:35]
B
What I'm probably most proud of is the progress we've made in better connecting Pharmacy's day to day work to the bigger priorities of our organization. Over the last year or so, we've had a lot of important conversations and made real progress around structure, accountability, service design and where pharmacy can have the greatest impact. Some of that's operational and some of it's strategic, but I think it all really matters. I'm also really proud of our team. It's been a demanding environment here like it has been for a lot of health systems, and people have continued to show up, keep things moving and stay committed to the work. That really matters a lot to me. More than anything, I'm proud that we're not just trying to maintain, we're trying to build something stronger and more intentional for the future.
[07:25]
A
Definitely. That's great. And you mentioned that team aspect and how important it is. How do you build a strong culture of teamwork and pride in the organization to want to keep showing up every day even when it does get hard?
[07:39]
B
Well, that's something that we continue to work on every single day at every level of this organization and it's really a focus from our CEO down and it's really inspiring. I think the biggest thing that we're trying to do is ensure that there's clear communication that we let people know what are the expectations for their role. How does that fit into the bigger picture of what we're trying to do overall and really work to hold each other accountable to meeting everybody's expectations?
[08:12]
A
Definitely. For pharmacists who are earlier in their careers and aspiring to step into leadership roles, what advice would you offer? You know, what skills or experiences do you think matter most right now?
[08:23]
B
I think there's a few things. First, learn to think beyond pharmacy without losing your grounding in pharmacy. The leaders who grow into broader roles are usually the ones who can connect pharmacy to operations, finance, quality strategy, and the overall goals of the organization. Second, work on building credibility early. Be someone who follows through, solves problems, communicates clearly, and works well with people. A lot of leadership opportunities come from trust, and I'd also say don't wait for a title to start acting like a leader. A lot of leadership is really about how you show up, how you support other people, and how you handle difficult situations. If you build that muscle early, bigger opportunities usually follow.
[09:15]
A
Definitely. That's a great piece of advice. Thank you. Well, Dr. Green, this has been such a great conversation. Thank you so much for joining me and for sharing your perspectives and insights with us. That's all for today's episode of the Becker's Pharmacy Leadership Podcast. A big thank you again to Dr. Green for joining us. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.