Identification of Indicators for Evaluating the Financial and Economic Performance of the Pharmacy: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Nowadays, by the increasing of the pharmaceutical expenditure the health system in all countries has gone under pressure. Thus, a process must be provided to assess the financial performance of this industry as it is essential to ensure that the limited resources are spent for the best advantages. Objectives: This study aimed to review indicators for evaluating the economic and financial performance of pharmacies. Methods: A systematic literature research was conducted using seven different search engines and electronic databases (PubMed, EBESCO, Ovid, ProQuest, springer, Science Direct, Scopus) until March 2014 without any time limitation. Inclusion criteria were: articles published in English, and the studies that focused on financial or economical scopes of pharmacy services. Studies that evaluated only clinical or humanistic performance of the pharmacy without an economic and financial assessment and also studies  presented in seminars or conferences and letter to editor were excluded from the study. Selected studies were examined carefully, and their results were summarized via Extraction Table. Results: finally, 15 articles were chosen from 1437 articles. After assessment of articles, 108 financial and economic indicators selected for evaluating pharmacy’s performance. Some indicators were: current ratio, cash ratio, total asset turnover, Net Profit Percentage (NPP). Finally, the financial and economic indicators were divided into three scopes: input, process and output indicators. Conclusion: for evaluating pharmacy’s performance, valid financial and economic indicators are required. The financial and economic indicators which had been summarized and sorted in our study can be applied by any country for codifying their local indicators.    

Keywords: Indicator, Financial, Economic, Performance, Pharmacy