The pharmaceutical work by the pharmacies holds immense societal value

In an evaluation we conducted for the Association of Finnish Pharmacies, we discovered  that the Finnish community pharmacies save public healthcare approximately 950 million euros annually; 855 million euros for the service providers (wellbeing service counties) and 95 million euros for the pharmacy customers. We assessed the value of pharmaceutical work done in Finnish community pharmacies from the perspectives of pharmacy customers, wellbeing service counties, and the society.  

Of the pharmaceutical services provided by pharmacies, self-care counselling brings most savings to Finnish wellbeing service counties, which save about 518 million euros per year thanks to the self-care counselling. Based on the survey to Finnish doctors, for instance, the number of primary care doctor visits would increase by approximately 20% without the self-care counselling provided in pharmacies. Of the doctors who responded to the survey, 70% would keep the distribution of over-the-counter medicines in pharmacies. The biggest factor contributing to this was securing medication counselling and safety. 

In our evaluation we estimated that the total societal value of pharmaceutical work is at least 2.6 billion euros per year, even with conservative estimation. In addition to the use of health services, the evaluation considered health benefits and avoided absences from work.  The economic model used in the analyses combined national statistics of health care service utilization, health care service costs, research literature, public and unpublished reports, and an electronic survey of Finnish physicians.