As health systems confront tightening margins, policy uncertainty, and a continued shift toward specialized outpatient care, pharmacy has become a critical strategic lever available to leaders. Yet in many organizations, pharmacy is still seen as operational more than strategic. Pharmacy still lives in the basement — both literally and figuratively.

At Advisory Board's 2026 Washington, D.C. Summit, Joe Maki, Senior Vice President of Novant Health and President of MedVenta Health Solutions, a provider-led pharmacy solutions company spun out of Novant's internal capabilities, and Ben Goodstein, Chief Ambulatory Officer at Dayton Children's Hospital and President of Dayton Children's Specialty Physicians, who oversees the full pharmacy enterprise across inpatient, outpatient, specialty, and home care, joined a panel discussion on pharmacy as an enterprise strategy.

Read below for a discussion between these leaders on how they have positioned their pharmacy capabilities to drive organizational revenue, produce positive clinical outcomes, and support the infrastructure needed to weather changes in policy and regulation.