title: Patients' value of asthma services in Australian pharmacies:  the way ahead for asthma care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Long-term sustainability of health services requires an understanding of patients' values and preferences. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients' preferences as well as their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a community pharmacy-delivered specialized asthma service using a discrete choice experiment (DCE).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with asthma in New South Wales, Australia, who had recently experienced a specialized asthma management service at their pharmacy were mailed DCE questionnaires. Patients were asked to choose between two hypothetical service models with varying attributes. Multinomial logit models estimated patients' marginal WTP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study had a response rate of 47%. Patients greatly valued various aspects of the pharmacy-based specialized service and had marginal WTP values of AUD$18.00 for a private area, AUD$44.50 for lung function testing, AUD$9.18 for appointments with pharmacists, and AUD$22.80 for provision of comprehensive advice on asthma and its medications. The marginal WTP for the overall service was AUD$94.86.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of the study indicate that patients greatly value and are willing to pay for asthma services in pharmacies. The study results will help pharmacists and policy advisors in the development of individualized asthma services that patients will use, are willing to pay for, and thus are economically viable in the future.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. pradnya.naikpanvelkar@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Pradnya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Naik-Panvelkar
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Armour
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Bandana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001315:Australia; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000191:economics*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000191:economics; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests / Q000191:economics; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires