Nursefriendly.com: Can't Afford My Prescription Drugs

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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Drugs: Spending on prescriptions is slowing - Health Key

mericans consume a lot of prescription drugs. And they seem especially fond of those to lower their cholesterol, relieve their heartburn, cheer them up and take away pain. Overall, however, their spending on such drugs is slowing.
A new report from consulting firm IMS Health offers a quick, but thorough, look at Americans' consumption of, and spending on, prescription drugs. In 2010, the report says, we spent more than $307 billion on medication. That’s up over 2009, but only by 2.3%.
The report’s introduction frames the trend nicely: “A number of factors contributed to this comparatively and historically low growth, including fewer patient visits to doctors’ offices, patent expirations for branded products, expanded usage of existing generic products and less spending on new products.”
Now, drum roll, please...Here are the top five classes of drugs prescribed in America:

via healthkey.com

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Andrew Lopez, RN
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Saturday, March 26, 2011

'Dispense As Written' Prescriptions May Add $7.7 Billion To Annual Health Care Costs, Researchers Found

About 5% of prescriptions submitted by CVS Caremark Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) members in a 30-day period during 2009 included a "dispense as written" (DAW) designation.
This practice - whereby doctors or patients demand the dispensing of a specific brand-name drug and not a generic alternative - costs the health care system up to $7.7 billion annually, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard University, Brigham and Women's Hospital and CVS Caremark. Moreover, these requests reduce the likelihood that patients actually fill new prescriptions for essential chronic conditions.
In a study published this week in the American Journal of Medicine, the researchers demonstrate that DAW designations for prescriptions have important implications for medication adherence. They found that when starting new essential therapy, chronically ill patients with DAW prescriptions were 50 to 60 percent less likely to actually fill the more expensive brand name prescriptions than generics. "Although dispense as written requests would seem to reflect a conscious decision by patients or their physicians to use a specific agent, the increased cost sharing that results for the patient may decrease the likelihood that patients actually fill their prescriptions," the researchers said.

via medicalnewstoday.com

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Branded drug prices soar as generic pressure rises | Reuters

Pharmacists in Jordan-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals package generic versions of Ciprofloxacin hydrochloride 750 mg which will be exported to the U.S. and Western markets in Amman February 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Ali Jarekji

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES | Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:46am EDT

LOS ANGELES
(Reuters) - U.S. prices for brand-name drugs are rising faster than ever as patents expire on top-selling medicines and the pharmaceutical industry nervously eyes the future of healthcare reform.
Prices for the 15 best-selling drugs rose by much higher rates in 2010 than they did in each of the last five years, according to exclusive data from Thomson Reuters MarketScan, which measured the average cost of a daily dose as shown in medical claims data.
Two thirds of the drugs saw double-digit price hikes, well above inflation of 1.6 percent in 2010 measured by the consumer price index. The analysis indicates drug makers are scrambling to make as much money as possible from blockbuster drugs before their patents expire, while taking advantage of the fact that last year's healthcare reform bill did not cap drug prices.
According to MarketScan, payments for Pfizer Inc's Lipitor rose 11.4 percent last year, compared with 5 percent annually from 2005 to 2010. That meant the cost of a daily dose of the cholesterol drug rose from $3.17 at the end of 2009 to $3.53 at the end of 2010. Lipitor, which will soon lose patent protection, had 2010 global sales of $10.7 billion.

via reuters.com

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Health Care and You

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We’ve seen some changes in health care over the past...

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New site explains healthcare reform law to pharmacists, patients

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via healthcareandyou.org

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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

$4 drug programs could save economy billions: study | Reuters

U.S. consumers could save billions of dollars by filling prescriptions for inexpensive generic drugs at stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, according to a new report.

A growing number of national chain pharmacies offer the generic form of a range of drugs - including anti-allergy medications, antidepressants, antibiotics and cholesterol-lowering drugs - for $4 for a 30 day supply. However, researchers found that less than 6 percent of people who could use such a program take advantage of it - costing both consumers and the government extra bucks.
All told, the US could save as much as $5.8 billion, according to the study

via reuters.com

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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Drugs: Spending on prescriptions is slowing - Health Key

Saturday, March 26, 2011

'Dispense As Written' Prescriptions May Add $7.7 Billion To Annual Health Care Costs, Researchers Found

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Branded drug prices soar as generic pressure rises | Reuters

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Health Care and You

The Affordable Care Act – One Year Later

GAO report shows success in health insurer appeals

New Health Insurance Survey: 9 Million Adults Joined Ranks of Uninsured Due to Job Loss in 2010; Few Viable Health Insurance Options Exist for Unemployed

HHS: Seniors using new reform law benefit

New site explains healthcare reform law to pharmacists, patients

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

$4 drug programs could save economy billions: study | Reuters

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