Prescription Medication Costs: A Study of Physician Familiarity

Ernst, Michael E.; Kelly, Michael; Swegle, John; Buys, Lucinda M.; Logemann, Craig D.; Ford, Julie; Kautzman, Holli A.; Sorofman, Bernard A.; Pretorius, Richard W.

doi:10.1001/archfami.9.10.1002

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…14–17 In a recent systematic review of studies of medication cost knowledge, Michael Allan and colleagues 13 found that cost accuracy was generally low, with only 31 percent of physicians’ estimated drug costs falling within 20–25 percent of the actual cost. However, many of these prior studies were limited by ambiguous definitions of actual cost , since the price of a medication often varies by location as well as by prescription plan.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survey Finds Few Orthopedic Surgeons Know The Costs Of The Devices They Implant

et al. 2014

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Orthopedic procedures represent a large expense to the Medicare program, and costs of implantable medical devices account for a large proportion of those procedures’ costs. Physicians have been encouraged to consider costs in the selection of devices, but several factors make acquiring information about costs difficult. To assess physicians’ levels of knowledge about costs, we asked orthopedic attending physicians and residents at seven academic medical centers to estimate the costs of thirteen commonly used orthopedic devices between December 2012 and March 2013. The actual cost of each device was determined at each institution; estimates within 20 percent of the actual cost were considered correct. Among the 503 physicians who completed our survey, attending physicians correctly estimated the cost of the device 21 percent of the time, and residents did so 17 percent of the time. Thirty-six percent of physicians and 75 percent of residents rated their knowledge of device costs “below average” or “poor.” However, more than 80 percent of all respondents indicated that cost should be “moderately,” “very,” or “extremely” important in the device selection process. Surgeons need increased access to information on the relative prices of devices and should be incentivized to participate in cost-containment efforts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survey Finds Few Orthopedic Surgeons Know The Costs Of The Devices They Implant

et al. 2014

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“…Physicians are unfamiliar with the costs of medications that they commonly prescribe [27], since cost-effective pharmacotherapy evaluation is not yet part of either the clinical practice or the training curricula.Attempts to control or reduce the economic burden of prescriptions are currently being made also in Italy, especially in general practice. However, more efforts need to be made to improve the situation in this context [7,25,28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacoeconomic analysis of prescriptions in Italian pediatric general practice

Campi

Garattini²,

Tediosi³

et al. 2002

The European Journal of Health Economics

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Most drugs used by children are prescribed by general pediatric practitioners (GPPs) in ambulatory settings. Prescription profiles are affected by GPPs' attitudes while the cost is related to the reimbursement modality. This study evaluated the Italian National Health Service (INHS) and family expenditures associated with prescribing practices to children younger than 12 years. Forty-two GPPs from southern Italy participated in the study. All visits recorded by GPPs during a 13-week period (February-April 1998), including telephone contacts and office and home visits were analyzed. The cost analysis of prescriptions is based on a sample of randomly selected consultations. INHS and family expenditures were evaluated according to reimbursement modalities for drug prescriptions. Total expenditure induced by all prescriptions during the study period was about 148 million Italian lire (7650 euros); 54% of this was borne by the INHS and the rest remaining by families. When corrections according to prescription modalities - following appropriate reimbursement form - were applied, only 49% of total expenditure were covered by INHS and 51% by families. Analysis of expenditures showed that drugs for symptomatic therapies (e.g., cough and cold preparations, analgesics, antipyretics) and vitamins accounted for most of the families' expenditure, while antibacterial and antiasthmatic drugs did so for the INHS. Of the ten most prescribed drugs the cost of three fell entirely on the family: paracetamol (the most commonly prescribed drug),morniflumate, and ambroxol. Therapeutic indications causing greatest expenditures for families were all the common,trivial childhood symptoms such as cough, fever, rhinitis, flu, and pharyngitis. Despite the universal coverage for pharmaceutical care more than one-half of drug therapy expenditures for children was covered directly by the parents. Prescription attitudes by GPPs remain the crucial factor for an equal cost distribution between families and the INHS.

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“…15 Lack of adequate physician knowledge about the cost of prescription medications and coverage details of insurance formularies has been identified as primary sources of lack of discussion between patients and physicians. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Given the limited literature on patient-provider communication about medication costs, there is a critical gap in addressing patient concerns about medication costs and affordability. Research is needed to assess the varied sources of knowledge that patients' use to discuss medication cost and affordability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%