Fee-for-Service Drug Information Centers

Many university and hospital-based drug information centers have implemented fee-for-service systems. However, it is unclear how the services are operated and contracted, and how clients are recruited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate university and hospital-based drug information centers in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States that had fee-for-service systems. A survey consisting of 14 questions (United States and Canada) or 15 questions (United Kingdom) was sent to 221 drug information centers. Ninety four drug information centers responded (43%), 17 (18%) of which had implemented a fee-for-service system. The data were entered and Microsoft Access and Excel programs were used to analyze them. The findings include that clients are usually recruited by word-of-mouth, and that fees charged vary among drug information centers and are highly dependent on the project and the situation.