Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Objective: This study aimed to explore the preferences of patients for the service attributes of anticoagulation pharmacy clinics and evaluate their willingness to pay (WTP).
METHODS: 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 anticoagulation pharmacy clinics. Seven attributes were established in the study: service form, pharmacist professional title, service duration, prescription authority, inclusion in medical insurance, 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 WTP.
RESULTS: Results: A total of 180 patients completed the DCE. Pharmacists with prescription authority (β = 1.516, 95% CI 1.007 - 2.025) were identified as the most crucial attribute, followed by pharmacists with higher qualifications (β = 0.919, 95% CI 0.493 - 1.346) and anticoagulation pharmacy clinics that could provide more extensive MTM services (β = 0.458, 95% CI 0.023 - 0.893). Among all the attributes investigated, service duration exerted the least influence on patients' preferences. The attribute with the largest WTP was the service with the prescription authority (RMB 397.13).
CONCLUSIONS: Conclusion: By revealing patients' preferences for anticoagulation pharmacy clinics, these findings laid a foundation for optimizing the service design, pricing of anticoagulation pharmacy clinics, 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.