Top

Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation

Published in:

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Letter to the Editor

Response to: Costs and savings associated with a pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments program in Saskatchewan

Authors: Ellen Rafferty, Mohsen Yaghoubi, Jeff Taylor, Marwa Farag

Published in: Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation | Issue 1/2018

Excerpt

We thank the author of the letter for reading and drawing attention to our work. We think that our knowledge and understanding of any issue is advanced by actually producing research that stimulates discussion and debate, and the author of the letter proved that our research did just that. The author of the letter raises issues about: (1) State of the evidence on pharmacist prescribing programs’ effectiveness and safety; (2) Study design; (3) Valuation of inputs; (4) Findings; and (5) Policy Implications. We will respond to the points raised by the author of the letter sequentially in the following paragraphs. …

Mansell K, Bootsman N, Kuntz A, Taylor J. Evaluating pharmacist prescribing for minor ailments. Int J Pharm Pract. 2015;23:95–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpp.12128.CrossRefPubMed

Paudyal V, Watson MC, Sach T, Porteous T, Bond CM, Wright DJ, et al. Are pharmacy-based minor ailment schemes a substitute for other service providers? A systematic review. Br J Gen Pract. 2013;63:472–81. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp13X669194.CrossRef

Kolhatkar A, Cheng L, Chan FKI, Harrison M, Law MR. The impact of medication reviews by community pharmacists. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2016;56(513–520):e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2016.05.002.CrossRef

Law MR, Cheng L, Kratzer J, Morgan SG, Marra C, Lynd LD, et al. Impact of allowing pharmacists to independently renew prescriptions: a population-based study. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2015;55:398–404. https://doi.org/10.1331/JAPhA.2015.14262.CrossRef

Inch J, Porteous T, Maskrey V, Blyth A, Burr J, Cleland J, et al. It’s not what you do it’s the way that it’s measured: quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies. Int J Pharm Pract. 2017;25:253–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpp.12305.CrossRefPubMed

Watson MC, Ferguson J, Barton GR, Maskrey V, Blyth A, Paudyal V, et al. A cohort study of influences, health outcomes and costs of patients’ health-seeking behaviour for minor ailments from primary and emergency care settings. BMJ Open. 2015;5:e006261. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006261.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Wagner A, Noyce PR, Ashcroft DM. Changing patient consultation patterns in primary care: an investigation of uptake of the Minor Ailments Service in Scotland. Health Policy. 2011;99:44–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.07.002.CrossRefPubMed

Bojke C, Gravelle H, Hassell K, Whittington Z. Increasing patient choice in primary care: the management of minor ailments. Health Econ. 2004;13:73–86. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.815.CrossRefPubMed

Baqir W, Learoyd T, Sim A, Todd A. Cost analysis of a community pharmacy “minor ailment scheme” across three primary care trusts in the North East of England. J Public Health. 2011;33:551–5. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdr012.CrossRef

10.

Jones I. Evaluation of the choose pharmacy common ailments service : Final report. 2015.

11.

Weisbrod G, Weisbrod B. Measuring economic impact of projects and programs. Transp Res Circ #477 1997:1–11.

12.

Government of Saskatchewan. Payment schedule: for insured services provided by a physician. 2015.

13.

Canadian Institute for Health Information. Health care in Canada, 2012: a focus on wait times. Ottawa: Canadian Institute for Health Information; 2012.

14.

Statistics Canada. Earnings, average hourly for hourly paid employees, by province and territory n.d. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/labr80-eng.htm. Accessed 25 Feb 2018.

15.

Lamb CE, Ratner PH, Johnson CE, Ambegaonkar AJ, Joshi AV, Day D, et al. Economic impact of workplace productivity losses due to allergic rhinitis compared with select medical conditions in the United States from an employer perspective. Curr Med Res Opin. 2006;22:1203–10. https://doi.org/10.1185/030079906X112552.CrossRefPubMed

16.

Stewart WF, Ricci JA, Chee E, Morganstein D, Lipton R. Lost productive time and cost due to common pain conditions in the US workforce. JAMA. 2003;290:2443–54.CrossRefPubMed

17.

Bramley TJ, Lerner D, Sarnes MP. Productivity losses related to the common cold. J Occup Environ Med. 2002;44:822–9. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jom.0000026644.83602.29.CrossRefPubMed

18.

Mösges R, König V, Köberlein J. The effectiveness of levocetirizine in comparison with loratadine in treatment of allergic rhinitis—a meta-analysis. Allergol Int. 2011;60:541–6. https://doi.org/10.2332/allergolint.10-OA-0300.CrossRefPubMed

19.

Miner PB, McKean LA, Gibb RD, Erasala GN, Ramsey DL, McRorie JW. Omeprazole-Mg 20.6 mg is superior to lansoprazole 15 mg for control of gastric acid: a comparison of over-the-counter doses of proton pump inhibitors. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2010;31:846–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2036.2010.04258.x.CrossRefPubMed

20.

Sharma S, Prasad A, Nehru R, Anand K, Rishi R, Chaturvedi S, et al. Efficacy and tolerability of prochlorperazine buccal tablets in treatment of acute migraine. Headache J Head Face Pain. 2002;42:896–902.CrossRef

21.

Codispoti JR, Prior MJ, Fu M, Harte CM, Nelson EB. Efficacy of nonprescription doses of ibuprofen for treating migraine headache. A randomized controlled trial. Headache. 2001;41:665–79. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-4610.2001.041007665.x.CrossRefPubMed

22.

McKeough MB, Spruance SL. Comparison of new topical treatments for herpes labialis: efficacy of penciclovir cream, acyclovir cream, and n-docosanol cream against experimental cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 1 infection. Arch Dermatol. 2001;137:1153–8.CrossRefPubMed

23.

Mason L, Moore RA, Edwards JE, Derry S, McQuay HJ. Topical NSAIDs for chronic musculoskeletal pain: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2004;5:28. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-5-28.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

24.

Pitblado JR PR. Geographic distribution of physicians in Canada: beyond how many and where. 2005.

25.

Government of Canada. Canada Health Act: R.S.C., 1985, c. C-6. Justice Laws Website; 2014.http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/C-6.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2018.

26.

Holden M, Madore O. Remuneration of primary care physicians. Parliament of Canada; 2002. https://lop.parl.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublicationsArchive/bp1000/prb0135-e.asp. Accessed 25 Feb 2018.

Title: Response to: Costs and savings associated with a pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments program in Saskatchewan
Authors: Ellen Rafferty
Mohsen Yaghoubi
Jeff Taylor
Marwa Farag
Publication date: 01-12-2018
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1478-7547
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12962-018-0159-y

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Response to: Costs and savings associated with a pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments program in Saskatchewan

Excerpt

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Excerpt

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

Catastrophic expenditures and impoverishment due to out-of-pocket health payments in Kosovo

Cost-effective interventions for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer: new results from WHO-CHOICE

Cost effectiveness of mHealth intervention by community health workers for reducing maternal and newborn mortality in rural Uttar Pradesh, India

Medical advice-seeking behaviors based on transaction cost theory

Cost effectiveness of HIV and sexual reproductive health interventions targeting sex workers: a systematic review

Effects of prescription restrictive interventions on antibiotic procurement in primary care settings: a controlled interrupted time series study in China