title: Will Australians pay for health care advice from a community pharmacist? A video vignette study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Large proportion of Australians have access to pharmacists' health advice at no cost. The impact of a proposed co-payment levy for general practitioner (GP) consultation by Australian government is unclear. This raises an interesting question about consumers' perceived value of health-related consultations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This survey of representative sample of Western Australians explores the hypothesis that Australians are willing to pay for advanced model of pharmacy consultation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two videos illustrating current-services and quality-enhanced-service (QES) incorporating systematic assessment of symptoms and referral to GP if necessary, were used. Participants viewed videos online and completed a willingness-to-pay (WTP) questionnaire about their perception and WTP for each service. Logistic regression and McNemar tests were used to identify WTP groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 175 respondents, one in nine (19/175, 11%) were willing to pay and (35/175) 20% might consider paying for advice at pharmacies as per current-practice. Almost one in four (49/175, 28%) were willing to pay and (47/175) 27% would consider paying for QES (McNemar Test P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of West Australians may be willing to pay for consultation at pharmacies that offers more private, time-intensive experience with documented GP referral where required. Further research is warranted to test WTP with actual customers to confirm these results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, P.O. Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia. Electronic address: d.sriram@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Deepa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sriram
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Science Seafood & Health (CESSH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McManus
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Practice, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Emmerton
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Moyez
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiwa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000191:economics*; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000191:economics*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000191:economics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Australia; Bowel symptoms; Community pharmacist; Video vignettes; Willingness to pay