how low will pharmacy salaries go?
40k? 60k?

Well, think of it this way. Tech hours and pharmacist hours have been slashed as a result of the Great Recession, yet pt. care has more or less stayed the same (at least where I am) or gone down slightly. Even still, the pt's will put up with loner waits, poorer service, etc because their medications are not opportunity costs. They cannot throw up their hands and say forget it, I'm going to Sears if OSH is taking too long, you know? There's no quick competitor. If the wait @ Rite-Aid is 47 minutes and the wait @ Wag's is 44 minutes, and each offer the same horrible service, what will they do? Tolerate it.

The corporations know that.And hospital boards are corporations, in a sense, with a board of directors, a CEO, a COO, etc. They're not dumb. they know they can get away with minimum staffing and still get the job done, for less money. The great Recession has proved that.

So, add 15% or more patients to the mix. They diffuse, from high concentration to low, and the selectively permeable membrane is [x] pharmacy. Who cares? The hospital won't rush out and hire 2 more pharmacists to handle it, they'll just tell the pt to wait longer. Don't like it? Well, go to Wal-Mart, where the wait is.. oh just kidding, it's equally horrible.

That's just one way it can go, and I didn't say it WOULD happen, because I'm not a psychic. But I can say unequivocally that unless basic economic principles are wrong, salaries will not drop.