Cost analysis of a medication dispensing service in community pharmacy in Brazil

Abstract

This study was aimed to calculate in detail the costs of a medication dispensing service in community pharmacy in Brazil. Descriptive and retrospective analysis with a cost analysis based on mixed costing; absorption costing and time-driven activity based-costing, considering year 2018 and both public and private health system perspectives within a one-year time horizon to estimates costs related to implement and to deploy the service, costs per patient and costs per activity of process (US$ 1 = R$ 3.8310 in October, 2018). Total costs of dispensing service ranged from US$ 24,451.61 to US$ 37,914.48. Costs per patient ranged from US$ 2.43 to US$ 3.77. Costs per activity of the process ranged from US$ 0.39 in pharmacotherapy assessment to US$ 2.46 in pharmaceutical interview. This provides evidence to deploy and implement a structured medication dispensing service in community pharmacy in Brazil with a view to optimize the usage of medicines.

Keywords

• Community pharmacy services
• Costs and cost analysis
• Health care costs
• Pharmaceutical services