Pharmacy Talent Strategy: The Missing Link in Health System Growth

Health systems need experienced pharmacy leaders in specialty pharmacy, ambulatory infusion, oncology, 340B, and informatics. But just as this need is surging, many seasoned leaders with expertise in these areas are leaving. Some are retiring early or stepping away from leadership roles, while others are being recruited into non-health system leadership roles within the healthcare industry with better pay, more flexibility, and clearer advancement paths.

At the same time, the pipeline of new leaders is thinning. Fewer graduates are entering Health-System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership (HSPAL) programs, and many top performers are bypassing hospitals entirely. The result is a shrinking leadership bench at a time when pharmacy’s role in delivering value has never been more critical.

Strong Leadership is a Powerful Growth Lever

Unfortunately, this leadership crisis is unfolding just as pharmacy’s ability to drive margin, growth, and innovation is reaching new heights. When key roles remain unfilled, the impact goes beyond delayed initiatives. It leads to millions in lost margin and slows ambulatory expansion.

At the same time, not all leadership delivers value. Poor or inconsistent leadership can undermine compliance, compromise patient safety, and erode workforce engagement. What may seem like a staffing issue is often a deeper strategic risk, with long-term costs in both missed opportunities and declining performance.
The next step goes beyond recruiting leaders. It’s about redefining how health systems measure value and reward the talent behind it.

“Redefining success in health-systems means moving beyond cost containment to measure pharmacy by the value it creates across the care continuum—revenue, access, safety, and patient experience. Health-systems that invest in pharmacy leaders who deliver on this vision will set the standard for growth and innovation in 2026 and beyond,” said Alex C. Varkey, Visante Senior Director, Client Success

2026 is the Time to Redefine Value & Talent

Cost-based metrics tell only part of the story. Pharmacy’s true value lies in the revenue, access, and quality it generates. Too often, outdated frameworks still prioritize cost containment over innovation, limiting investment in the talent that drives growth. Health systems need to move beyond headcount and expense ratios and start measuring how pharmacy contributes to enterprise revenue, safety, access, and patient experience.

Many HR compensation models rely on generic benchmarks that ignore the complexity of pharmacy leadership roles. Span of control, role scope, and required expertise vary widely, but pay bands rarely reflect that reality. While short-term savings may look good on paper, they come at a long-term cost: the most capable, entrepreneurial leaders—the very ones health systems say they want—are often the first to leave.

Traditional Thinking Can’t Win a Modern Talent War

While competitors aggressively recruit top pharmacy talent, many health systems cut costs at the expense of growth. Modern pharmacy teams need more than clinical depth. They require leaders with business, analytics, and contracting expertise to drive enterprise value.
When key roles sit vacant, progress halts. Ambulatory growth stalls, and prior gains in revenue, access, and quality can quickly unravel, evaporating much of the value built in prior years.

This is a Leadership Wake Up Call

Pharmacy leadership sits at the intersection of three domains health systems can’t afford to outsource: revenue, compliance, and innovation. In the decade ahead, it will be one of the most decisive factors shaping overall health system performance. That’s why pharmacy talent strategy must be elevated to a C-suite priority. Here’s how to start:

• Measure pharmacy by the value it creates, not the costs it avoids
• Fund leadership pipelines as growth infrastructure
• Reward innovation, not attrition
• View pharmacy not as overhead, but as intellectual capital

Build the Team That Builds the Business

The difference between losing and attracting pharmacy talent often comes down to leadership philosophy. Some health systems treat pharmacy as a cost center. Others view it as a growth engine—and invest accordingly.
To shift from reactive hiring to strategic talent planning, executives should ask:

• What is our replacement cost for a pharmacy leader, and are we budgeting for it?
• Do our metrics capture pharmacy’s contribution to growth and innovation?
• Who owns pharmacy succession planning?

Leading organizations are rethinking how they recruit, retain, and develop pharmacy talent through two key approaches: innovation and investment.

Innovation strategies include:

• Broadening recruitment beyond traditional pharmacy roles
• Hiring talent with business, payer, analytics, and contracting expertise
• Creating hybrid roles and remote options for informatics and data functions
• Introducing lattice-style career models to promote cross-functional growth
• Launching internal leadership academies to grow talent from within
• Implementing market-responsive pay bands based on industry competition
• Offering micro-promotions, spot bonuses, tuition support, and rotational fellowships to reward performance and build engagement
• Refreshing the employer brand to position pharmacy as a driver of growth. Leading systems spotlight innovation wins in recruitment materials and social content, with clear backing from executive leadership.

Investment strategies include:

• Treating pharmacy leadership as a strategic priority, on par with finance or strategy
• Benchmarking internal leadership needs based on pharmacy’s financial scope (e.g., a $1B department should be resourced accordingly)
• Engaging external partners, like Visante, to accelerate initiatives and build internal capacity
• Tying incentives to measurable contributions like 340B savings, infusion revenue growth, or formulary cost avoidance

Health systems that take this approach aren’t just filling roles. They’re building sustainable teams that drive enterprise performance and future growth.

“Innovation without a clear investment strategy doesn’t go far enough to positively transform your leadership philosophy. Health systems that combine the two will unlock sustainable value in 2026 and beyond,” shared Dale Drizd, Visante Senior Vice President, Pharmacy Services

The Hidden Cost of Vacancies

Every unfilled pharmacy leadership role carries a measurable cost:

• Turnover replacement cost: Recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity often exceed 1.5× salary.
• Lost capture: In specialty or infusion roles, unbilled or outsourced treatments can result in hundreds of thousands in lost revenue per month.
• Compliance risk: A missed 340B audit or contract pharmacy oversight lapse can cost the organization millions.

Investing in Leadership Is Investing in the Future

Forward-thinking health systems are building diverse, cross-functional pharmacy teams that blend clinical expertise with business, analytics, and payer experience. They’re proactively developing leadership pipelines before vacancies arise and leveraging consulting partnerships to accelerate performance while building internal capability.

Whether retaining existing talent or recruiting new leaders, strategic investment in pharmacy leadership may be one of the most valuable moves a CFO makes in 2026. To move faster and go further, consider partnering with Visante. Our experts work alongside your pharmacy leadership team to advance initiatives and strengthen internal leadership for long-term success. Reach out today!

Subject Matter Experts: Dale Drizd and Alex Varkey