Economic Evaluation of a Medicines Management Model in New Zealand: A Proposal

This chapter narrates a proposal focusing on building a cost effectiveness medicines management model in community pharmacy. Community pharmacy is taking a central role in medicines management, with an emergent evidence base supporting the importance of these services in improving patient adherence. However, just because a program or service has been shown to demonstrate positive outcomes for patients in a trial setting, it does not mean it will be easily implemented in practice. Economic evaluation plays a central role in this context and can provide an evidence base for funders, policy decision makers and for government authorities. In this context, this proposal will outline the cost-effectiveness of alternative models of medicines management in New Zealand setting. Building a relevant, evidence-based model of care through which greater collaboration is sought within primary care can promote better use of prescribed medicines and can improve patient health outcomes. Though this model is presented in New Zealand setting, however, other high-income countries with the similar health system can adopt a similar approach.