OBJECTIVES: While pharmacist provided counseling has proven effective in positive patient drug outcomes, only between 40-67% of patients are receiving this service.  As the pharmacy profession moves towards providing greater patient care services, patients’ intentions to receive pharmacist provided counseling are not well understood.  The objectives were to elicit modal salient behavioral beliefs, normative referents and control beliefs of patients regarding receiving community pharmacist’ provided counseling and determine the factors that influence intention to receive counseling (i.e. legal requirements and awareness of MTM services). METHODS: Focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of community-pharmacy patients in Houston, TX, using a semi-structured interview guide with 14 open-ended questions.  The theory of planned behavior was used as the theoretical framework to guide the focus group discussions.  Each session was audio-recorded, transcribed, and participant responses were analyzed for qualitative content. RESULTS: Two, 60 minute focus groups (Total N=12) were conducted.  Time constraints and privacy issues presented as major themes in the discussions.  Regarding advantages/disadvantages, participants emphasized the importance of counseling for the discussion of potential drug interactions and side effects of their medications and felt that their doctor would approve of them speaking with a pharmacist about their medications.  However, both patient and pharmacist’ time constraints presented as a barrier to counseling.  The majority of participants also stated that they would receive counseling more readily if it were provided in a more private environment.  Only one participant was aware of MTM services and medication counseling requirements by law, however the majority stated that if they were aware of this mandate they would more readily accept pharmacist provided counseling. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of barriers to pharmacist provided counseling, specifically privacy and time limitations, may be beneficial for creating specific interventions that would increase patients’ intentions to receive pharmacist provided counseling.