Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PHARMACY NETWORK

DOMINIK GREGA 1*, TÜNDE AMBRUS 1, ADAM MATEJOVIČ 2, MARTINA ŠUTOROVÁ 1, 3, JOZEF KOLÁŘ 4

1Department of Applied Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Masaryk University; Palackého tř. 1946/1, 612 42 Brno, the Czech
Republic
2Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Seiryo-machi 2-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 9808575, Japan
3Department of Pharmacy and Social Pharmacy, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice; Komenského 73, 041 81 Košice, the Slovak Republic
4Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University, Akademika Heyrovského 1203, 500 05 Hradec Králové, the Czech Republic

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The legal framework for pharmacy has been frequently changed after the foundation of present-day Slovakia in 1993. The establishment of new pharmacies was regulated and based on geographical criteria in the past. This article aimed to evaluate the impact of geographical restrictions removal on the number of newly established pharmacies in Slovakia and assessed their financial performance in the period from 1998 to 2017. Selected financial indicators, demographics, and the number of inhabitants per community pharmacy have been assessed. 25% of community pharmacies in Slovakia showed a negative return on sales (ROS), total debt higher than the average of Slovak healthcare, and did not maintain the expected range of current liquidity status. Overall, 16% and 31% of pharmacies were unprofitable based on the Altman Z score and Index 05, respectively. While the number of inhabitants remained relatively unchanged, the number of community pharmacies doubled during the observed period. Based on the results, we designed models to decrease the number of pharmacies and increase the inhabitant/pharmacy ratio to improve pharmacies' financial performance. We propose to introduce regulating demographic criteria to establish new pharmacies based on our models. By regulating or reducing the number of pharmacies, it can be expected an increase in the offered pharmacy services. To maintain the quality and accessibility of pharmaceutical services in rural areas, providing financial support for community pharmacies could be an alternative.