Hospital Pharmacists’ Intervention In Access To Innovative Therapies – Opportunities And Strategies: A Mixed-Method Design

Abstract BACKGROUND: Hospital Pharmacists (HP) intervene in multiple activities to ensure the patient access to innovative therapies in hospitals, including decision-making process. AIM: To identify opportunities and strategies that leverage the intervention of HP to improve the access pathway to innovative therapies in hospitals of these therapies. METHODS: After semi-structured interviews, a survey was implemented targeting Portuguese HP, followed by an expert panel with HP (n=12) to reach a consensus. Data was collected between October 2021 and March 2022. RESULTS: 58 HP answered the survey. Even though the most important activities identified were related to HP’s support in the decision-making for approval of innovative therapies, it was consensual that there are opportunities for optimizing this process. The expert panel proposed 5 strategic actions focusing on access to legal information about innovative therapies, the approval process, and enhancing collaboration among all stakeholders. CONCLUSION: HP’s intervention in the decision-making process is essential in the therapeutic innovation access pathway. Therefore, it is important to implement strategies to make the process faster, more informative, and efficient.