Rafferty Ellen, Yaghoubi Mohsen, Taylor Jeff, Farag Marwa
School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Room 3334, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E3 Canada.
College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Cost Eff Resour Alloc. 2017 Apr 11;15:3. doi: 10.1186/s12962-017-0066-7. eCollection 2017.
Health care systems around the world have started to develop pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments (PPMA) programs. These programs aim to improve the efficiency of care, reduce physician visits, and increase the accessibility to prescription medication (Rx). This study performed an economic impact analysis of the pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments program in Saskatchewan.
We measured costs for the program and the alternative scenario (i.e. no PPMA program) from a public payer and societal perspective, using primary data on pharmacists prescribing consultations in Saskatchewan. Furthermore, we calculated public payer and societal savings, and return on investment ratios for the program, as well as projecting the costs and benefits over the next 5 years.
Overall, we found that from a societal perspective, the Saskatchewan PPMA program saved the province approximately $546,832 in 2014, while according to the public payer perspective, the program was only marginally cost-saving in 2014. After 5 years of implementation, from a societal perspective, cumulative cost savings were projected to be $3,482,660, and the return on investment ratio was estimated to be 2.53.
Our results demonstrate that this type of program may prove cost-saving and lead to improved access to the health care system in Canada, especially if savings to society are considered. This type of PPMA program may prove economically feasible and beneficial in many countries considering expanding pharmacists scope of practice.
世界各地的医疗保健系统已开始制定药剂师治疗小病开方（PPMA）计划。这些计划旨在提高医疗效率、减少看医生次数并增加获得处方药（Rx）的机会。本研究对萨斯喀彻温省的药剂师治疗小病开方计划进行了经济影响分析。
我们从公共支付方和社会角度衡量了该计划及替代方案（即无PPMA计划）的成本，使用了萨斯喀彻温省药剂师开方咨询的原始数据。此外，我们计算了公共支付方和社会节省的费用、该计划的投资回报率，并预测了未来5年的成本和收益。
总体而言，我们发现从社会角度看，萨斯喀彻温省的PPMA计划在2014年为该省节省了约546,832加元，而从公共支付方角度看，该计划在2014年仅略微节省成本。实施5年后，从社会角度看，预计累计成本节省为3,482,660加元，投资回报率估计为2.53。
我们的结果表明，这类计划可能证明具有成本效益，并能改善加拿大医疗保健系统的可及性，特别是如果考虑到对社会的节省。这类PPMA计划在许多考虑扩大药剂师执业范围的国家可能证明在经济上是可行且有益的。
