Clinical pharmacy services in family practice: cost-benefit analysis. I. Physician time and quality of care.

Abstract

The objectives of this study was to identify benefits and costs that a family practice clinic could expect to incur by including a clinical pharmacist in that clinic, to derive equations to estimate the magnitude of each benefit and cost, to discuss the rationale for each equation, and to demonstrate the application of these equations through the use of sample calculations. The benefits, freed physician time and improved quality of care, are discussed. The physician's time is freed since the clinical pharmacist can provide many services that were provided previously by a physician. Quantification is based on a determination of the amount of time spent by physicians in providing specific services and the proportion of those services that could be assumed by a clinical pharmacist. Literature sources document an improvement in quality of care due to clinical pharmacy services. The principle used to quantify this improvement in the quality of care involves determining a monetary value for this care before the addition of a clinical pharmacist. This baseline quality of care value is then multiplied by the projected fractional increase in the overall quality of care that would result from the inclusion of a clinical pharmacist.