Healthcare costs continue to be a concern, despite efforts underway to reduce them through healthcare reform initiatives. One area, in particular, is worrying patients and physicians alike: specialty drugs or biologics. An article in Workforce Management reports that specialty drugs “make up about 17% of employers’ total drug costs, even though just 1% of the workforce takes them.” Reuters reports that “approximately 57 million Americans rely on specialty drugs,” with the average prescription costing $1,766.00 in 2011. “Specialty drugs are high-cost drugs used to treat complex or rare conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis C and hemophilia. The […]
Category: Prescription Drugs
What on Earth is the Donut Hole? A Brief Explanation of Medicare Part D and the “Donut Hole”
Today, we are hoping to provide answers to some of your questions about the Donut Hole! Tell us about your experiences. We would love to hear from you. 1. What is the donut hole? To answer that question, we first need to understand Medicare and Part D. According to Jonathan Blum, Deputy Administrator and Director for the Center of Medicare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people 65 or older, people under 65 with certain disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure). People with Medicare have the […]
Why do kids have unfilled prescriptions?
You take your sick child to the doctor. An exam is done, a diagnosis made, a prescription written, and instructions given to the parent. The next step: a trip to the pharmacy to have the prescription filled so the child can start the medicine as soon as possible. Right? Why, then, did a recent study reveal that up to 25% of children’s prescriptions remain unfilled? Investigators are currently examining whether electronic prescriptions are filled more often (because the patient does not have the opportunity to lose or misplace it), or if, in fact a written prescription serves as a tangible […]
Your Good Health: Medication Adherence
Last month, many of us made New Year’s resolutions and we were being deluged with advice about how to eat sensibly, how to exercise our way to fitness, and how to develop and keep healthy habits. But let’s get down to basics: how well do you follow your doctor’s advice? Doctors will be increasingly held accountable for your overall health and wellness, and your progress towards sustained good health, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA aims to increase the quality of care given and reduce the costs, thereby ensuring that the right care is given in the right […]
What Does “Off-Label” Mean?
We often hear about drugs being prescribed “off-label.” Many patients have questions about what this means. Is it safe? Is it legal? How can we know that off-label use will help us get better? Off-label use is the practice of prescribing pharmaceuticals for an unapproved indication, age group, dose or form of administration. We will explain more about this shortly. But first, let’s look at how drugs are approved for use in our country. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug Evaluation and Research review’s a company’s New Drug Application for data from clinical trials to […]