Pharmacy value added services: Early begininings, current implementation, and challenges from the Malaysian experience

Abstract

Background: In a large natural experiment, Pharmacy Value Added Services (PVAS) was introduced by the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Services Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia to improve the delivery of pharmaceutical care to patients. PVAS in the Malaysian context and definition refers to a group of new innovative pharmacy services including Pharmacy Drive Through, Postal Medicine, Integrated Drug Dispensing System, and SMS and Collect. Despite the convenience and advantages of PVAS, patients’ adoption rate is still low. Objectives: This article aims to discuss, explore, compare and report the beginnings, definitions, early implementations, types of services offered and the challenges faced by the implementers of these services to derive policy lessons, implications and recommendations. Methods: We utilize a comparative discussion to highlight the various PVAS globally in comparison with the Malaysian experience. A further literature review is used to explore, contrast and highlight the implementation as well as the challenges of PVAS adoption in Malaysia to derive policy lessons, implications and recommendations. Results: PVAS is still new in Malaysia and requires much more work to increase its reach to its intended audience. We suggest numerous methods to increase its adoption rate. Overall, we suggest that PVAS be a key focus for Malaysian community pharmacies so that pharmaceutical services in Malaysia can achieve parity with advanced countries.