ucsb-nlp-chang/federatedskill/pharmacy-mailer-cycle-analysis

Pharmacy Mailer Refill Cycle Margin Analysis

When to Use

• Task provides four CSVs: compound_cost.csv, mailer_cost.csv, base_payment.csv, service_fee.csv.
• Goal is to compare annual financial margins between 45-day and 90-day refill cycles.
• Output must include per-medication breakdowns, total margins, absolute difference, and a threshold-based decision.

Workflow

1. Verify Inputs: Ensure all four CSVs are present. Check column names match expected schema.
2. Run Computation: Execute scripts/compute_mailer_margin.py with the input CSV paths.

``bash python3 scripts/compute_mailer_margin.py --compound compound_cost.csv --mailer mailer_cost.csv --base base_payment.csv --fee service_fee.csv --threshold 8500 ``

1. Validate Outputs: Check that mailer_policy_analysis.json and mailer_policy_summary.md are generated. Verify JSON structure matches the expected schema in references/formulas_and_schema.md.
2. Review Decision: The script determines keep_45_day or switch_to_90_day based on whether the absolute margin difference exceeds the threshold.

Key Formulas & Assumptions

• Patients per medication: 150
• Fills/year: 8 (45-day), 4 (90-day)
• Doses/fill: Equals cycle days (45 or 90)
• Annual Drug Cost: (price_per_1000 / 1000) * doses_per_fill * fills_per_year * 150 (Identical for both cycles)
• Annual Mailer Cost: mailer_cost * fills_per_year * 150
• Annual Payment: (base_payment + service_fee) * fills_per_year
• Annual Margin: Annual Payment - Annual Drug Cost - Annual Mailer Cost
• See references/formulas_and_schema.md for detailed derivations and exact JSON schema.

Anti-Patterns & Troubleshooting

• Do not compute manually: The patient multiplier on mailer costs and payment scaling frequently causes manual arithmetic errors. Always use the bundled script.
• Mailer cost scaling: Mailer cost scales with both fill frequency and patient count. Do not forget the * 150 multiplier.
• Drug cost invariance: Total annual drug cost is identical for both cycles (same total doses/year). Only mailer costs and payment revenue change.
• Threshold logic: Decision triggers only if abs(margin_90 - margin_45) > threshold. If triggered, pick the higher margin cycle. Otherwise, default to keep_45_day.
• CSV Parsing: Inputs may be tab or comma separated. The bundled script uses csv.Sniffer to handle both automatically.