Background

Funding is a significant barrier to employing general practice pharmacists.

Objective(s)

To explore the feasibility of determining the cost-benefit of pharmacists in Australian general practice.

Methods

Two part-time pharmacists were employed by general practices in Canberra, Australia. Diaries of the pharmacists were analysed to determine time worked and participation in income-generating activities, including Government-funded programs: Asthma Cycle of Care, Home Medicine Reviews, and Health Care Assessments. Scenarios using different practice and business models were entered into value-cost models to determine the income generated by the pharmacists relative to their salary.

Results

Over 19 weeks, pharmacists A and B supported 47 and 23 Asthma Cycle of Care activities, generating income to the general practice of AU$4,700 and AU$2,300, respectively. The pharmacists spent 36.4 and 24.1 hours on activities usually conducted by general practitioners (GPs), allowing additional time for GP-patient consultations. Value-cost models determined AU$0.61 - AU$1.20 income generation by pharmacists per AU$1 salary.

Conclusions

It was feasible to determine the value-cost ratios of employing pharmacists in general practice using these methods. Future work should focus on developing a robust business model that includes health care system savings resulting from practice pharmacist interventions, determined from randomised controlled trials.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	pharmacists, general practice, general practitioners, primary care, economics
Research Division:	Health Sciences
Research Group:	Health services and systems
Research Field:	Primary health care
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Evaluation of health and support services
Objective Field:	Evaluation of health outcomes
UTAS Author:	Peterson, GM (Professor Gregory Peterson)
ID Code:	141282
Year Published:	In Press
Deposited By:	Pharmacy
Deposited On:	2020-10-12
Last Modified:	2021-02-10
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