Are Australian community pharmacy patients willing to pay for pharmacists' consultations

Background: Community pharmacy is the most accessed health destination in Australia. It is relied upon to provide not only for medication supply but also as a network of access points for vital health incentives such as the ‘National Diabetes Services Scheme’, ‘Opioid Replacement Therapy’ and the ‘Needle and Syringe Exchange Program’. In Australia many community pharmacies are small businesses whose financial sustainability is being challenged due to the impact of government remuneration reforms and the highly competitive community pharmacy landscape which has resulted in decreased revenue and profitability. To continue to ensure the availability of these businesses to not only provide medication but for patient access to important health programs it is important to prioritise investigating new revenue streams outside of Australian government remuneration.Purpose: To determine if community pharmacy patients would be willing to pay for a clinical, medicine or condition-based consultation with a community pharmacist.Method: Participants were Australian residents 18 years or older who had visited an Australian community pharmacy at least once in the previous 12 months. Participants were recruited and the survey was distributed via online consumer panel research company The ORU. The online survey was designed using the Qualtrics platform. As well as demographic data questions, a question with four different consultation durations were provided: Short (up to 10 minutes), Medium (10-20 minutes), Long (20-30 minutes), and Extra-Long (30-40 minutes). Participants were asked to indicate the maximum dollar amount they would be willing to pay for each consultation duration on a sliding scale from $0 to $225 and advised to select $0 if they would not be willing to pay for the described consultation. Data were cleaned and invalid or nonsensical responses removed. The remaining valid data were analysed using SPSS statistical software. For each consultation length, the median and interquartile range (IQR) were calculated for the responses that indicated willingness to pay.Results: A total of 455 valid response were received. Of these 361 (79%) indicated they would be willing to pay for at least one duration of the described clinical, medicine or medical condition-based consultation with a pharmacist. This include 310 (68%) participants who indicated they would be willing to pay for a Short consultation, 342 (75%) a Medium consultation, 355 (78%) a Long consultation, and 356 (78%) an Extra-Long consultation. The median and IQR for each consultation duration was: Short $20.00 (IQR $10.00-$29.25), Medium $25.00 (IQR $15.00-$42.25), Long $33.00 (IQR $20.00-$53.00), and Extra-Long $41.00 (IQR $25.00-$71.00).Conclusion: This study demonstrates that Australian community pharmacy patients are willing to pay for a clinical, medication or medical condition-based consultation provided by a pharmacist. Therefore, community pharmacies could potentially generate a new source of revenue if patient-funded pharmacist consultations are introduced. For patients a pharmacist consultation may provide timelier access to information and healthcare for their medical conditions and medications. Future research would need to explore what could be provided under this model and the logistics of implementation into community pharmacy