Physicians' Attitudes About Prescribing and Knowledge of the Costs of Common Medications

Abstract

Physicians were predisposed to being cost-conscious in their prescribing habits, but lacked accurate knowledge about actual costs and insurance coverage of drugs. Interventions are needed to educate physicians about drug costs and provide them with reliable, easily accessible cost information in real-world practice.

Do Health Reforms Impact Cost Consciousness of Health Care Professionals? Results from a Nation-Wide Survey in the Balkans

“…Nevertheless, most of the published evidence dealing with this issue was focused on the psychological background of medicine prescription (16,17). Although quite manageable by different policies, drug costs in high income economies account for a rather small portion of the total direct medical costs (18,19). Therefore, wider horizon scanning encompassing clinicians' awareness and attitudes on intensive care unit procedures (20), diagnostics (21), high-tech imaging (22), anesthesia (23), psychotherapy techniques (24) and rehabilitation (25) provision costs was necessary to obtain insight into the bigger picture.…”

“…17 Physicians employed within State-owned facilities due to strict inner and outer control, run fewer tests and examinations per patient compared to the physicians employed within privately-owned facilities 18 I do have less confidence in fellow physicians employed in State-owned facilities compared to the ones employed within privately-owned facilities 19 The physicians employed within State-owned Institutions don`t have the same level of the I quite I don`t have I don`t I don`t dedication tothe patients as the physicians in the private sector do agree at all agree I agree opinion agree agree at all 20 The physicians in the State-owned institutions work fewer hours a day than the physicians in the privately owned institutions.…”

Cost variation analysis of various brands of anti-epileptic drugs currently available in Indian pharmaceutical market

“…The situation can be improved if drug cost is given greater emphasis during medical training program of doctors. 15 Currently, very few medicines are under drug prices control order. Government should bring more number of antiepileptic drugs under price control.…”

Towards integration of health economics into medical education and clinical practice in Saudi Arabia

“…There is recognition of the need to improve physicians' limited knowledge of economic analyses in an era of rising health care costs and the important role of health economic analyses has come to assume (Dresnick et al 1979;Fowkes 1985;Reichert et al 2000;Ademi et al 2013).…”

“…Research also indicates that the cost of medical care delivered in the context of medical education is 20 to 60% higher than care provided in non-teaching environments (Sloan et al 1983;Frick et al 1985). Further studies point out that residents and medical students do not receive instruction on cost awareness and that physicians lack knowledge about the costs of medical care (Dresnick et al 1979;Fowkes 1985;Reichert et al 2000). These studies essentially postulate the need for integrated economic analyses, and they are consistent with research, which underscores the importance of integrating economic analyses into medical education and clinical practice (Evans 1989;Backhouse et al 1992;Elixhauser et al 1993;Russell et al 1996;Pollak 2014).…”