Using the Consumer Experience with Pharmacy Services Survey as a quality metric for ambulatory care pharmacies: older adults' perspectives

OBJECTIVES: To describe older adults' perceptions of evaluating and comparing pharmacies based on the Consumer Experience with Pharmacy Services Survey (CEPSS), describe older adults' perceived importance of the CEPSS and its specific domains, and explore older adults' perceptions of the influence of specific CEPSS domains in choosing/switching pharmacies. DESIGN: Focus group methodology was combined with the administration of a questionnaire. The focus groups explored participants' perceived importance of the CEPSS and their perception of using the CEPSS to choose and/or switch pharmacies. Then, using the questionnaire, participants rated their perceived importance of each CEPSS domain in evaluating a pharmacy, and the likelihood of using CEPSS to switch pharmacies if their current pharmacy had low ratings. Descriptive and thematic analyses were done. SETTING: 6 semistructured focus groups were conducted in a private meeting room in a Mid-Western state in the USA. PARTICIPANTS: 60 English-speaking adults who were at least 65 years, and had filled a prescription at a retail pharmacy within 90 days. RESULTS: During the focus groups, the older adults perceived the CEPSS to have advantages and disadvantages in evaluating and comparing pharmacies. Older adults thought the CEPSS was important in choosing the best pharmacies and avoiding the worst pharmacies. The perceived influence of the CEPSS in switching pharmacies varied depending on the older adult's personal experience or trust of other consumers' experience. Questionnaire results showed that participants perceived health/medication-focused communication as very important or extremely important (n=47, 82.5%) in evaluating pharmacies and would be extremely likely (n=21, 36.8%) to switch pharmacies if their pharmacy had low ratings in this domain. CONCLUSIONS: The older adults in this study are interested in using patient experiences as a quality metric for avoiding the worst pharmacies. Pharmacists' communication about health and medicines is perceived important and likely to influence older adults' pharmacy selection.