Reducing the Travel Burden for Patients to Access Specialized Medicines in Paraná, Brazil.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the potential reduction in distance and travel time with a hypothetical municipal distribution of specialized component medicines in the state of Paraná.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Distances and travel times from all the 1025 residential locations in the state of Paraná to dispensing pharmacies were calculated in 2 different models: centralized model with drugs dispensed in the 22 state-owned pharmacies and decentralized model with drugs dispensed in the 399 municipal pharmacies. Road routes were calculated using the Google Maps Distance Matrix API and Euclidean distance using the haversine formula for the southern hemisphere. A sinuosity index was computed by the quotient between these 2 distances. Differences were evaluated through bivariate analyses and effect size measures were reported.

Results: In the centralized model, the mean distance to the pharmacy was 59.5 km (SD 34.1), with a travel time of 1.0 hour (SD 0.5) and 579 residential locations (56.7%) more than 50 km away from the pharmacy, 286 (28.0%) between 25 and 50 km, and 156 (15.3%) less than 25 km. In the decentralized model, the mean distance was 10.8 km (SD 16.6), with a travel time of 0.2 hours (SD 0.3) and 14 locations (1.4%) more than 50 km away from the pharmacy, 96 (9.4%) between 25 and 50 km, and 911 (89.2%) less than 25 km. The decentralized model significantly reduced the sinuosity index.

Conclusions: Implementing a decentralized dispensing of the specialized component drugs in the state of Paraná would produce a significant reduction in distance and travel time for patients enhancing drug accessibility.