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Choice of and overall satisfaction with pharmacies among a community-dwelling elderly population
1Department of Health Services Research and Management, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4th Street, Room 1C165, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA. somktx@ttuhsc.edu
Objectives:
To identify factors related to elderly consumers' choice of pharmacy types and their overall satisfaction with pharmacy services provided by: a single community pharmacy, multiple pharmacies with a primary community pharmacy, a single mail order pharmacy, and multiple pharmacies with a primary mail order pharmacy.
Data:
Data were extracted from the Texas Tech 5000 survey of consumers, age 65 years or older, in West Texas. The survey contains information about the respondents' health services use, pharmacy service use, satisfaction with accessibility and quality, health insurance coverage, health beliefs, health status, and demographics, as well as other health-related factors.
Methods:
An endogenous treatment effect model was used to examine elderly consumers' choice of and satisfaction with different types of pharmacies. The first stage of the estimation identified factors related to consumers' choice of pharmacies. The second stage estimated the effects of pharmacy types on consumers' overall satisfaction with pharmacy services, controlling for self-selection.
Results:
The type of pharmacy was a significant determinant of satisfaction. Self-selection was found in the determination of consumers' overall satisfaction with pharmacy services. Controlling for self-selection, elderly consumers who used a single community pharmacy and who used multiple pharmacies with a primary mail order pharmacy were the most satisfied with their pharmacy services. The type of pharmacy that ranked lowest in overall consumer satisfaction was multiple pharmacies with a primary community pharmacy. Insurance coverage of prescription drugs was significantly associated with consumers' choice of pharmacy. The greater the number of prescription drugs a consumer took, the higher the odds were that they used multiple pharmacies.
Conclusions:
Although using a single community pharmacy may create close patient-pharmacist relationships and improve health outcomes, consumers may be diverted from this choice because of price concerns and insurance diversification.