Doctors mindful of patients' out-of-pocket drug costs

A study shows that physicians prescribe generic drugs, offer free samples and split high-dose tablets to help patients afford their prescription medications.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. May 2, 2005.

Although a recent study found more than one-third of physicians did not discuss out-of-pocket costs of prescription drugs with patients, the report's lead author agrees with others who say there is a growing awareness and that change already is taking place among doctors.

According to the study, published in the March 28 Archives of Internal Medicine, nearly 93% of the 519 internists and cardiologists who responded to a survey said that they know prescription costs can be a financial hardship for some patients.

Only slightly more than a third were aware of the extent of the hardship. But the report indicated there was potential that more doctors will become cognizant of their patients' economic challenges, with 75.2% of the responding physicians saying they believed they had an obligation to initiate conversations on drug costs.

"The most important finding is that a considerable proportion of physicians are entirely engaged in this issue," said the study's lead author G. Caleb Alexander, MD, an instructor in medicine and affiliate faculty member of the MacLean Center for Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.

"I believe increasing awareness of the burden that many patients face will create a 'tension for change' that will, ultimately, facilitate doctors and patients working together to address these issues," he said.

American Medical Association Trustee Edward L. Langston, MD, said that prescription drug costs get addressed every day at his practice in Lafayette, Ind.