ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON GOOD PHARMACY PRACTICE REGULATION IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY

Abstract

Objectives of this study were to explore the current situation of community pharmacies in order to comply with the Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) regulation and to evaluate the economic impact in terms of cost-benefit of the Ministerial Regulation on Application and Issuance of License to Modern Pharmacies from societal perspective. The data was obtained from self-administered questionnaires sent to Type I pharmacy owners during July–September, 2014, excluding the accredited pharmacies, and from the published literature and expert opinion. The result showed that pharmacy owners are ready to implement 19 standards of place and equipment within one year, ten standards within two years and other nine standards within three years. There are only one standard related to extemporaneous preparation, need 3.5 years to be ready. The result showed that the total 8-year cost was $1,317.90 million dollars (48,639.61 million baht) and total 8-year benefit was $3,672.34 million dollars (136,027.69 million baht). Net present value (NPV) and benefit to cost ratio were $ 2,087.79 million dollars (68,458.75 million baht) and 2.78 benefit:cost, respectively.The one-way best case and worse case sensitivity result presented that the net benefit ranged from -$856.14 million dollars to $20,815.45 million dollars (– 28,072.91 to 682,538.71 million baht). Cost per case of Drug-Related problem (DRP) and number of DRPs in community pharmacies were an important factor which might contribute to an impact on net benefit. The implementation of this regulation seems to have provided positive financial return on investment to Thai society. The results support the policy decision maker that immediately implement the GPP regulation was cost-beneficial. In addition, if the policy maker takes into account for the readiness of the pharmacy owners, implementing the regulation can be extended for the pharmacies that opened before the issuing of this regulation but should not be later than 3.5 years.