Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Anticoagulation Pharmacy Clinics (APCs) significantly improve clinical outcomes via optimized drug regimens and patient-centered care. However, the service models are still being explored.
METHODS: In accordance with the checklist of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted to assess patients' preferences for APCs. Seven attributes were established in the study: service form, qualifications of pharmacist, service duration, prescription authority, medical insurance coverage, scope of medication therapy management (MTM), and cost. By creating hypothetical scenarios with diverse combinations of these attributes, patients undergoing anticoagulant therapy in China were invited to make their choices. A mixed logit (ML) model regression was employed to analyze patients' preference for each attribute and estimate their willingness-to-pay (WTP).
RESULTS: A total of 180 patients completed the DCE. The most important attribute for APC services is “prescription authority” (31%), followed by “cost” (24%) and “qualifications of service provider” (14%). Pharmacists with prescription authority (β = 1.52, 95% CI 1.01 - 2.03) were identified as the most crucial attribute, followed by pharmacists with senior qualifications (β = 0.92, 95% CI 0.49 - 1.35) and inclusion of APCs in medical insurance (β = 0.70, 95% CI 0.32 - 1.09). The attribute with the largest WTP was the service with the prescription authority (RMB 57.80).
CONCLUSIONS: By revealing patients' preferences for APCs, these findings laid a foundation for optimizing the service design, pricing of APCs, and formulating medical insurance policies. Our study also provides reference information on market segmentation and service differentiation strategies for China's health departments, medical security bureaus, and pharmacy administration.