Patients’ perception of the price of the medications they use: analysis in a community pharmacy in Madrid

INTRODUCTION The close relationship established in the community pharmacies helps patients express opinions that they do not usually share in other areas of the Health System. This bond was used to analyze how patients evaluate the cost of their medications. OBJECTIVE The objective of this piece of work was to analyze patients’ perception of the price of the medications they use and the secondary aim was to analyze the influence of different variables of this percepcion. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was a transversal, observational study over five months. Using a questionnaire carried out ad hoc, information about the price that patients believed their medication to have was collected. After being informed about the real price, they were asked their opinion about it. At the same time, diverse social and health parameters were recorded. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Those who answered the questionnaire erred on the high side (37.2%) when estimating the price of their treatment. However, they considered the real price to be excessive. Younger patients and chronic ones and those who used private prescriptions got closer to the real price. It was noticed that the most numerous group of benefi ciaries of public funding (old-age pensioners) are not familiar with the price of the medications that they use. It was also shown that these are the patients who visit their prescribing doctor most frequently and who often ask for prescriptions for medications prescribed by private professionals. All this indicates that this group does not have an accurate idea of the price of the pharmaceutical services received and that, therefore, measures addressed at informing about this value could promote positive attitudes and thus improve the efficacy of the investment in expenses on medication.