Economic Evaluation of Pharmacist-Led Digital Health Interventions: A Systematic Review

Abstract

There has been growing interest in integrating digital technologies in healthcare. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the economic value of pharmacist-led digital interventions. PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane databases were searched to select studies that had conducted economic evaluations of digital interventions by pharmacists for the period from January 2001 to February 2022. Economic evidence from 14 selected studies was synthesized in our analysis. Pharmacists used telephones, computers, web-based interventions, videotapes, smartphones, and multiple technologies for their digital interventions. Prior studies have reported the results of telephone-based interventions to be cost-effective. Alternatively, these interventions were found to be cost-effective when reevaluated with recently cited willingness-to-pay thresholds. In addition, pharmacist-led interventions based on computers, web-based interventions, smartphones, and multiple technologies have been reported to be cost-effective in previous studies. However, videotape-based intervention was found cost-ineffective because there was no significant difference in outcomes between the intervention and the usual care groups. If this intervention had been intensive enough to improve outcomes in the intervention group, favorable cost-effectiveness results could have been obtained. The economic evidence in the previous studies represented short-term economic values. Economic evaluations of the long-term value of digital interventions are warranted in future studies.

Building competitiveness and business resilience in the environment of digital economy: A research in a chain of Serbian pharmacies

“…The role of pharmacists is to upgrade themselves through continuous education, thereby developing their skills in the application of e-prescriptions, following innovative digital progress streams, and gaining full agility for the operation and management of this system 14 .…”

the-paradigm-shift-of-pharmacy-profession-at-post-covid-19-era-in-malaysia

“…Following this digitalisation as success of several online medical consultation portals, pharmacists are being called upon to leverage their expertise in medication management to help patients navigate the complex landscape of digital health tools [30,31]. This includes providing support and guidance on the safe and effective use of medications and collaborating with other healthcare providers to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients [32,33]. One key area where pharmacists can add value in digital health is in the management of chronic conditions and infectious disease such as COVID-19.…”