School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Res Social Adm Pharm. 2024 Dec;20(12 Pt A):1089-1095. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2024.08.089. Epub 2024 Aug 24.
Little is known about preferences for community pharmacies, particularly the influence of prescription co-payments, and for New Zealand's priority populations, Māori and Pacific Peoples. Improving understanding of community pharmacy preferences will enable tailoring services to meet community needs.
This study aims to investigate New Zealanders' preferences for community pharmacies when collecting prescriptions. Additionally, variations in preferences for community pharmacy attributes between different latent and demographic groups were examined.
Focus group discussions with various community groups were thematically analyzed to develop six attributes: location, wait time, customer service, prescription co-payments, parking availability, and nearby businesses. Participants were asked to complete an online survey involving 12 choice tasks, where they had to choose their preferred option of 3 unlabeled pharmacies along with demographic questions. A mixed multinomial logit model and latent classes analysis were used to assess and compare the participant preferences.
The sample of 553 participants, representative of the New Zealand population, resulted in 19,908 observations for analysis. The most attractive pharmacy attribute was its proximity, being within a 10-min travel distance from home or work. The importance of prescription co-payments is evident, with free prescriptions being the second most attractive attribute level and $15 NZD prescription co-payments being the least appealing. Different classes placed importance on different attributes, the largest of which prioritized prescription co-payments. Including demographic characteristics did not improve model accuracy nor predict class membership.
Under current policy, the most effective way for pharmacies to attract business is by offering free prescriptions. However, the trend of adopting lower-cost models may reduce the quality of care they deliver. Policy decision-makers must decide if they are comfortable with this potential impact.
对于社区药店的偏好，尤其是处方共付额的影响，以及对于新西兰的优先人群，毛利人和太平洋岛民，人们知之甚少。更好地了解社区药店的偏好将使服务能够满足社区的需求。
本研究旨在调查新西兰人在收取处方时对社区药店的偏好。此外，还研究了不同潜在和人口统计学群体对社区药店属性的偏好差异。
对不同的社区群体进行焦点小组讨论，对六个属性进行了主题分析：位置、等待时间、客户服务、处方共付额、停车可用性和附近的商业设施。参与者被要求完成一项涉及 12 项选择任务的在线调查，在调查中，他们必须从 3 家未标记的药店中选择自己喜欢的药店，并回答人口统计学问题。使用混合多项逻辑回归模型和潜在类别分析来评估和比较参与者的偏好。
代表性的新西兰人口的 553 名参与者的样本得出了 19908 个观察值进行分析。最吸引人的药店属性是其位置，距离家或工作场所的 10 分钟车程内。处方共付额的重要性显而易见，免费处方是第二吸引人的属性水平，而 15 新西兰元的处方共付额最不受欢迎。不同的类别对不同的属性给予重视，其中最大的类别重视处方共付额。包括人口统计学特征并没有提高模型的准确性，也没有预测类别成员。
在当前政策下，药店吸引业务的最有效方式是提供免费处方。然而，采用低成本模式的趋势可能会降低他们提供的护理质量。政策决策者必须决定他们是否愿意接受这种潜在的影响。
