Health Workforce

Minnesota Pharmacies and Pharmacy Workforce, 2004

The Office of Rural Health & Primary Care (ORHPC) conducts an annual survey of pharmacies to gather information about demand for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The 2004 survey generated responses from 694 pharmacies with Minnesota addresses. These pharmacies reported employing 1,572 full-time and 914 part-time pharmacists. Minnesota had 1,212 pharmacies in April 2005, up from 1,168 in 2004, according to the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy.

ORHPC asks pharmacists to answer questions about their employment status and the nature of their practices each year when they renew their licenses. Response is voluntary and does not affect license renewal. About 90 percent of the pharmacists complete the survey.

NOTE: In the tables below, “urban” is defined to include seven Twin City metropolitan counties (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington) and the cities of Duluth, Rochester and St. Cloud.

• Pharmacies by size

Although there are a handful of very large pharmacies, most pharmacies are small. Less than 5 percent have more than five full-time pharmacists.

Number of full-time pharmacists	Number of Pharmacies N = 694
0	11.2%*
1	37.9%
2-5	46.5%
6-10	1.6%
11-15	1.4%
16-20	.6%
> 20	.7%

Seventy-three of 78 pharmacies reporting no full-time pharmacist had one or more part-time pharmacists.

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• Trends in Number of Pharmacies

Over the past 10 years, the number of pharmacies operated by commercial chains has grown, while the number of independent, non-chain pharmacies has declined.

Source: Minnesota Board of Pharmacy

The shift toward chain-operated pharmacies has been greatest in the 80 rural counties outside the seven-county Twin Cities area.

• Change in Number of Community Pharmacies, 2000-2005 by Ownership Type
Source: Minnesota Board of Pharmacy

	Non-chain	Chain
7-county Twin Cities area	+3.5%	+32.2%
Balance of state	-9.4%	+32.5%

Despite the loss of non-chain pharmacies in non-metropolitan Minnesota , non-chain pharmacies still account for more than 56 percent of community pharmacies in non-metropolitan Minnesota, compared to only 29 percent in the Twin Cities area.

• Community Pharmacies by Ownership Type

Source: Minnesota Board of Pharmacy .

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• Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians

Pharmacies responding to the ORHPC survey reported employing nearly one full-time pharmacy technician for every full-time pharmacist. Including part-time positions, they employed more technicians than pharmacists.

694 Responding Pharmacies	Full-time Pharmacists	Part-time Pharmacists	Full-time Pharmacy Technicians	Part-time Pharmacy Technicians
Reported positions	1,572	914	1,495	1,515
per full-time pharmacist		.58	.95	.96

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• Job Vacancies

Six percent of responding pharmacies reported openings for full-time pharmacists. Eleven percent said they had at least one full- or part-time pharmacist vacancy.
Six percent of responding pharmacies reported openings for full-time pharmacy technicians. Sixteen percent said they had at least one full- or part-time opening.

Pharmacies with Vacancies, 2004

	Pharmacists	Pharmacy Technicians
No vacancies	89%	84%
At least one vacancy	11%	16%
Part-time only	5%	10%
Full-time only	6%	5%
Full-time and part-time	< 1%	1%

• Reasons for Pharmacist Vacancies

	Full time	Part time
Pharmacies reporting vacancies	43	38
Number of reported vacancies	54	39
Due to pharmacist leaving	59%	69%
Due to new pharmacist position	36%	26%
No reason given	6%	5%

When surveyed in 2004, thirty-six pharmacies said they were actively recruiting to fill 47 full-time positions.

	Full time	Part time
Number of pharmacies recruiting	36	31
Positions being recruited	47	31
Clinical pharmacists	2	0
Hospital pharmacists	10	2
Pharmaceutical care pharmacists	0	1
Retail pharmacists	24	29
Other	12	1

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said it took more than six months to fill a full-time pharmacist vacancy.

• Average Time to Fill Pharmacist Positions, 2004

	Full-time	Part-time
0-3 months	39%	23%
4-6 months	22%	47%
More than 6 months	39%	30%

he Board of Pharmacy reported 4,720 active pharmacists in April 2005, up from 4,613 in 2004.

• Active Pharmacists April 2005

	7-county* Metro Area	80-county Non-metro area	TOTAL
Female	1,441 (53%)	789 (39%)	2,230 (47%)
Male	1,275 (47%)	1,215 (61%)	2,490 (53%)
TOTAL	2,716 (100%)	2,004 (100%)	4,720 (100%)

• Registered Pharmacy Technicians April 2005

	7-county* Metro Area	80-county Non-metro area	TOTAL
Female	2,687 (79%)	2,840 (91%)	5,527 (85%)
Male	707 (21%)	274 (9%)	981 (15%)
TOTAL	3,394 (100%)	3,114 (100%)	6,508 (100%)

* Anoka , Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development estimates pharmacist vacancy rates ranging from 2.3 percent downward to 1.1 percent since 2002.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development estimates pharmacy technician vacancy rates of less than one percent from 2002 to 2004.