Cost-savings from subsidized pro-active pharmacist interventions.
OBJECTIVE
This paper evaluates a pilot project to determine the desirability of implementing a reimbursement model for pro-active interventions. A drug plan administration conducted an experiment in which a pharmacist could recommend to physicians the substitution of lower-cost therapies with equivalent health outcomes. The pharmacist shared any cost savings with the insurer.


METHODS
Drug plan costs without the intervention were estimated using time-series forecasting models and compared to actual costs with the intervention.


RESULTS
Over the course of this experiment, there were some cost savings generated by reactive pharmacist interventions but pro-active interventions, intended to influence subsequent physician behaviour, appear to have had no significant effect on the profile of drug expenditures.


CONCLUSIONS
The evidence does not lend extensive support for full implementation of this type of reimbursement model.
Law
Stephen
S
Department of Economics, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. slaw@mta.ca
Wu
Weiqiu
W
D017046:Cost Savings / Q000191:economics*; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D010595:Pharmacists; D010865:Pilot Projects