Health Care Heroes 2025
ADVANCEMENT IN HEALTH CARE PREVENTION: Dr. Eugenio Fernandez
Asthenis LLC founder
What led you to choose health care as your profession? In grad school, I noticed my physician peers often complained about the limited time they had with patients – averaging only 15 minutes. This short time is insufficient to fully explain conditions, refer to specialists and discuss treatment plans. I decided to create a community resource for reliable health education outside of your doctor’s office called Asthenis.
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How have you helped boost the quality of access to health care? Our team delivers health information and education to high-risk individuals, aiming to enhance their quality of life and reduce unnecessary emergency room visits. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Asthenis administered more than 50,000 COVID-19 vaccinations and tests to residents of Rhode Island.
What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? One challenge is that there are increasing requests for simple medical services such as blood pressure screening and advice on colds, coughs and flu. Additionally, many seek lab tests to monitor their cholesterol and diabetes between doctor visits. However, health insurers in Rhode Island do not cover services provided by pharmacists. If a doctor, nurse or physician assistant administers a test, it is covered. The same service by a pharmacist is not.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? Lawmakers can innovatively utilize University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy graduates to help mitigate the effects of the primary care shortage on underserved populations by providing access to illness remedies and treat ailments.
Are you confident patient access and quality of care will improve in Rhode Island over the next five years? Why or why not? Yes, because Rhode Island trains some of the best pharmacists in the country. Most credible public health experts would agree that pharmacists are the most-underutilized public health resource in the U.S.
