Utility of the Family Pharmacist System:

Abstract

This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the utility of the family pharmacist system using administrative claims data. The eligible cohort was detected from the JMDC claims database; it was divided into two groups-those using the system (users) and those not using the system but receiving general pharmaceutical management (non-users) in health insurance pharmacies. The calculation of chouhukutouyaku-sougosayoutou-boushi-kasan-which consisted of the calculation other than the adjustment of leftover drugs and the calculation related to the adjustment of leftover drugs-was considered an indicator of the system’s utility. This indicator was compared between the two groups from April 2018 to March 2020, and a generalized linear model (link, identity; distribution, binomial) was developed to estimate the adjusted absolute risk differences (ARDs) and 95％ confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 162,340 patients were included in the eligible cohort (users [n = 1,214]; non-users [n = 161,126]). Chouhukutouyaku-sougosayoutou-boushi-kasan was examined among 177 participants (14.6％) of users and 9,052 (5.6％) of non-users (adjusted ARD, 5.1; 95％ CI, 3.2 to 7.1). Furthermore, the adjusted ARD was 3.1 (95％ CI, 1.6 to 4.7) and 2.4 (95％ CI, 1.0 to 3.7), for the calculation other than the adjustment of leftover drugs and the calculation related to the adjustment of leftover drugs, respectively. The current study reported that the family pharmacist system was related to the increase in the calculation of chouhukutouyaku-sougosayoutou-boushi-kasan. Therefore, it is suggested that the system was useful for facilitating pharmaceutical management in health insurance pharmacies.