Incorporating medication therapy management into community pharmacy workflows

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Operations Research
• Pharmaceutical Sciences

Background:

• Community pharmacies provide Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services to optimize patient drug therapy outcomes.
• Balancing medication dispensing and MTM services presents operational challenges for pharmacies with limited resources, impacting profitability.
• MTM services represent a secondary revenue stream for community pharmacies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an operational model for community pharmacy workflow using a queueing network approach.
• To determine conditions for achieving economies of scope when offering both prescription and MTM services.
• To provide practical insights for pharmacy administrators and healthcare policymakers.

Main Methods:

• Queueing network modeling to represent community pharmacy workflow.
• Derivation of structural results to identify conditions for economies of scope.
• Process simulation to compare various operational scenarios (services, personnel, demand).

Main Results:

• Identified conditions under which pharmacies can achieve economies of scope by offering both prescription and MTM services.
• Simulation results indicate how profitability and service rates are affected by operational variables.
• Sensitivity analysis revealed key operational factors influencing pharmacy profitability.

Conclusions:

• The developed operational model provides a framework for community pharmacies to enhance efficiency.
• Findings offer practical guidance for optimizing resource allocation and service delivery in community pharmacies.
• The study supports informed decision-making for community pharmacy administrators and healthcare policymakers regarding MTM integration.