The Role of Pharmacies in Providing Point-of-Care Services in the Era of Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence: Technologies, Regulation and Socioeconomic Considerations

Pharmacy-based point-of-care (POC) services have evolved from pilot initiatives to an essential component of decentralized healthcare delivery. These services—ranging from rapid infectious-disease screening to chronic-disease monitoring—improve access, re-duce diagnostic delays and empower pharmacists as front-line healthcare providers. The present paper is the first comprehensive review of the evolution of pharmacy POC services worldwide, combined with the analysis of the regulatory and educational frameworks supporting implementation, technological drivers such as biosensors, mo-bile health and artificial intelligence and in-depth socioeconomic considerations. Bene-fits for patients, pharmacies and healthcare systems are contrasted with challenges in-cluding variable reimbursement, uneven regulatory oversight and workforce preparedness.