Relations Between Price and Quality in Community Pharmacy

Abstract

Two elements which are of primary importance to the consumer or to the health care practitioner are the quality and price of medical care delivered. The purpose of this study was to attempt to relate the two for one part of medical care—community pharmacy practice. The two are obviously related, if not in fact, then at least in traditional wisdom. Stated in a layman's way, the purpose of this study was to determine if, indeed, you get what you pay for in community pharmacy services. This was accomplished through the formulation of various hypotheses concerning the relationships between the cost and quality of pharmacy services. Null hypotheses were tested with regard to these relationships. Price and quality data for this study were collected by two “shoppers” in 50 community pharmacies.