By Brenda Hawkes, Patient Advocacy Manager, and Justine Dolorfino, Social Media Specialist & Communications at Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy If you have a prescription to treat a serious disease or condition such as HIV, psoriasis, or cancer, chances are that you get your medications through a specialty pharmacy. You may have wondered what the ‘specialty’ in the title means and why that makes a difference. We can help explain that here. What Is A Specialty Pharmacy? Specialty pharmacy is a branch of pharmacy care that helps people with special and often long-term needs. These people include those with conditions like […]
Category: Prescription Drugs
New Ways Criminals are Trying to Prey on American Consumers
Educated patients have known for years that randomly buying their medications from websites they find on Google can be dangerous. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy recently surveyed online pharmacies and found that 97% of them aren’t safe for Americans to order their medication from. Additionally, the past two years has seen an influx of counterfeits into the United States as fake drug wholesalers have begun bombarding small clinics and physicians with direct sales tactics promising unrealistic discounts. Three separate shipments of a fake version of a cancer drug have been found in the United States in the last […]
New Tool, Approach for Consumers to Find Lower-priced Healthcare
There are a lot of people concerned about their healthcare costs in the U.S. I’m certainly one of them. My family gets hit unexpectedly like any other, and we have our own recurring medical bills to deal with. Since I realized a few years ago that I could save upwards of one to two thousand dollars a year in medical expenses, I’ve made a habit of reviewing my medical bills much more closely. This can take hours upon hours on the phone and researching of medical codes and jargon—far from a simple process. But what can you end up saving […]
Double Check, Don’t Double Up on Medicines Containing Acetaminophen
Acetaminophen is the most common drug ingredient in the U.S. and is found in more than 600 different prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines, including pain relievers, fever reducers, and sleep aids as well as cough, cold, and allergy medicines. It is safe and effective when used as directed, but taking more than directed is an overdose and can lead to liver damage. Research recently conducted by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (the Alliance) found that more than half of Hispanic consumers are not aware of any health risks associated with taking too much acetaminophen, and do not check their medicine […]
Drug Discount Cards – Lifting the Veil of Secrecy
by Richard J. Sagall, MD, President of NeedyMeds Everywhere you look you see claims of savings from drug discount cards. You may be skeptical when cards promise huge savings. And you should be because not all the claims are real. Too Good to Be True The old saying “If it seems too good to be true then it probably is” applies to drug discount cards. Drug discount cards have the potential of saving you a lot of money, but you have to understand how they work. It’s important to remember that they all work basically the same way. […]