Discipline of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Bruce, Canberra, ACT, 2617, Australia.
Discipline of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Bruce, Canberra, ACT, 2617, Australia.
Res Social Adm Pharm. 2021 May;17(5):1012-1016. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.07.030. Epub 2020 Aug 10.
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.
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.
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.
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.
资金是在全科医疗中雇用执业药师的一个重大障碍。
探索确定澳大利亚全科医疗中药师成本效益的可行性。
两名兼职药师受雇于澳大利亚堪培拉的全科诊所。对药师的日记进行分析，以确定工作时间和参与创收活动的情况，包括政府资助的项目：哮喘周期护理、家庭药物审查和医疗评估。使用不同的实践和商业模式的场景被输入价值成本模型，以确定药师的收入相对于他们的工资。
在 19 周内，药师 A 和 B 支持了 47 项和 23 项哮喘周期护理活动，分别为全科医疗带来了 4700 澳元和 2300 澳元的收入。药师们花费了 36.4 小时和 24.1 小时从事通常由全科医生（GP）进行的活动，为 GP-患者咨询留出了额外的时间。价值成本模型确定了药师每 1 澳元工资可产生 0.61 澳元至 1.20 澳元的收入。
使用这些方法确定在全科医疗中雇用药师的成本效益比值是可行的。未来的工作应侧重于开发一个稳健的商业模式，该模式包括通过随机对照试验确定从执业药师干预中节省的医疗保健系统成本。
