Global landscape of community pharmacy services remuneration: a narrative synthesis of the literature

Abstract

Community pharmacists form a vital part of the health system all around the globe. Pharmacy remuneration models are aimed to ensure that pharmacies are sustained, and pharmacists could provide cost-effective services to the patients. This review summarizes the pharmacy services remuneration systems from different parts of the globe. Some countries have well-established reimbursement systems that recognize and compensate community pharmacies for their services, others are in the process of expanding the scope of reimbursable services. It further concludes by highlighting the ongoing efforts to incorporate pharmacist-provided services into reimbursement schemes and the need for standardized and consistent approaches to pharmacy remuneration globally.

Keywords:

• Community pharmacy
• Remuneration
• Reimbursement
• Fee for service
• Capitation
• Cognitive pharmaceutical services

Author contributions

RH and ZUB designed the study. RH conducted the study, supervised by ZUB. RH and ZUB analyzed the data. RH drafted the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This research received no funding.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

RH is the Section Editor of Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice. ZUB is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice.

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Notes

1 All currencies are converted according to the currency rates published on 10 June 2023.