Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-30-2025

Abstract

Background

Understanding the evolution of consumer behavior in pharmacy selection is crucial for delivering patient-centered and technology-driven healthcare.

Objective

To identify factors influencing consumer pharmacy choice using 2021 National Consumer Survey on the Medication Experience and Pharmacists’ Roles (NCSME-PR) and to examine how these factors have evolved over time using 2015 data as a baseline.

Methods

All variables were harmonized with the 2015 dataset to ensure comparability. Guided by the Andersen Behavioral Model, descriptive analyses and logistic regression were performed on 2021 survey data (N = 1,521) to evaluate factors influencing pharmacy selection, and results were compared with 2015 findings to assess evolving trends.

Results

Younger adults (18–33) increasingly favored prescription-only pharmacies (OR=3.523), while older adults (70+) preferred mail-order pharmacies. Use of mail prescriptions rose by 11.7% and remained a strong predictor of mail pharmacy use (OR=30.29). Vaccination (+20%) and drive-thru utilization (+7.8%) increased substantially and were associated with chain pharmacies (OR = 1.404; OR = 2.500). In contrast, Traditional predictors such as education, financial hardship, OTC/herbal use, and medication side effects declined in relevance.

Conclusion

Consumer preferences have shifted toward convenience-based and contactless pharmacy models, a trend that has continued beyond 2021. These changes highlight the need for pharmacists to adapt service delivery approaches and for health informatics professionals to strengthen digital infrastructure supporting patient-centered care.

Comments

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of the American Pharmacists Association in 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2025.102964

The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.

This scholarship is part of the Chapman University COVID-19 Archives.

Copyright

Elsevier

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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