Fig. 1

Patient flow in the conventional and established ambulatory care pharmacy practice. When IFN-free direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) were first prescribed, all patients visited the ambulatory care pharmacy practice after being examined by a physician. The pharmacist provided patient education, advised on the timing of taking DAAs, based on the patients’ life styles, enquired regarding concomitant medications and supplements for the prevention of drug interaction, and suggested that the physicians change the concomitant medications as necessary. At the second visit or later, the patients visited the pharmacy service before consulting the physician. The pharmacist had a face-to-face consultation with each patient and suggested modifications of the plan of treatment to the physician, based on the patient’s condition