OBJECTIVES: Clinical pharmacists have become an integral part of multidisciplinary management team and play a key role within the healthcare system. They have been shown to provide evidence-based recommendations, educate patients, prevent adverse drug events (ADEs), and reduce overall costs. The purpose of this study was to analyze the economic impact of clinical pharmacist interventions in a tertiary general hospital in Qatar.

METHODS: This study was a retrospective review of clinical pharmacist intervention records from March 1, 2018 to March 31, 2018, July 15, 2018 to August 15, 2018, and January 1, 2019 to January 30, 2019. Data were collected from Hamad General Hospital at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. Cost-benefit analysis was used which was calculated according to the cost savings associated with reducing therapy due to the intervention as well as the cost avoidance due to preventable ADEs, and was reported as the net benefit, total benefit, and benefit‐to‐cost ratio associated with the clinical pharmacist interventions. We adopted the perspective of a public healthcare provider. Sensitivity analyses were used to confirm robustness of results.

RESULTS: A total of 852 interventions for 340 patients were identified by the clinical pharmacists. The interventions were clinically significant and associated with fewer ADEs, which is translated to a net benefit of QAR 3,139,130 (USD 862,161), which would suggest an annual net benefit of QAR 12,556,520 (USD 3,448,646), a total benefit of QAR 3,515,966 (USD) over 3-month period, and benefit-to-cost ratio of 9.33. The sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of outcomes and revealed that the probabilities of avoided ADEs contributed the most to the cost saving.

CONCLUSIONS: Clinical pharmacists play a key role in the prevention of medication errors, detection of medication-related problems, and reduction of healthcare costs in a public healthcare setting.