Effects of the Additional Fee for Enhanced Collaboration on Pharmacological Interventions in Outpatient Cancer Drug Chemotherapy

Abstract

Saiseikai Yokohama-shi Nanbu Hospital has been charging an additional fee for enhanced collaboration for surgical patients concerning outpatient cancer drug chemotherapy since March 2022. In this survey, we compared the number of consultations and pharmacological interventions performed by pharmacists for target and non-target departments from September 2021 to February 2022 before the calculation began, and from March to August 2022 after the calculation started. In the target department, the number of consultations was 1.5±1.3 and 8.1±4.8 per day for before and after the calculation began, respectively, showing a significant increase (P<0.001). The number of pharmacological interventions increased from 35 preoperatively to 66 postoperatively. However, in the non-target departments, there was no change in the number of consultations and pharmacological interventions between before and after the calculation started. The results suggest that the additional fee for enhanced collaboration effectively enables pharmacists to continuously intervene in pharmacological problems.