Department of Veterans Affairs Pharmacy Service in the Year 2000: Chaos or Planned Change?

The practice of pharmacy is changing rapidly. Tech-nological and economic forces will be the catalysts for a major paradigm shift in the profession of pharmacy. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pharmacy service is making preparations for the evolving roles of pharmacists in the future. © 1990 by W.B. Saunders Company. PHARMACY IS a profession in transition. The literature addresses many issues con-cerning the changing practice of pharmacy. No-where will the impact of the evolving role of the pharmacy profession be greater than in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which operates the largest managed health care system in the world. The system is comprised of 172 medical centers and 226 outpatient clinics and i