Grant: Project Grant

In British Columbia (BC), rural and remote communities have more difficulties accessing the services provided by community pharmacies than urban communities. Some remote communities do not even have a pharmacy. Innovative pharmacy models for the delivery of pharmacy services in rural and remote communities have been recommended by researchers, policy makers and pharmacy associations. These pharmacy models include providing additional financial incentives to existing rural pharmacies, expanding telepharmacy and virtual services, and introducing non-for-profit pharmacies. It remains unclear which pharmacy model is more feasible and cost-saving within the BC context. It is costly and time-consuming to implement and compare all these models in the real-world. Simulation modeling is a suitable alternative to generate evidence to guide model selection and implementation strategy. Our overall goal is to evaluate and compare the access to pharmacy and other health care services, and the costs associated with different pharmacy models in BC rural and remote communities through simulations. The specific objectives include 1) Explore the feasibility of different pharmacy models and identify required resources; 2) Estimate the costs of the pharmacy models shortlisted based on feasibility; 3) Compare the impact of the shortlisted pharmacy models on health care service utilization and costs using simulations. Our timely research will inform policy makers to decide which model to pilot test or implement in order to improve the access to pharmacy services in BC rural and remote communities. Our research methods can also be used for future analyses and application in other jurisdictions.