E-Prescribing in Medicare Would Improve Medication Adherence, Lower Costs

(Washington, DC)—The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) issued the following statement on a Fall 2006 survey examining the Medicare Part D program that was published in Health Affairs today:

“According to this survey, there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of seniors without drug coverage prior to the enactment of Part D. However, one problem that persists is that some seniors are not filling, or are delaying filling their prescription medications due to costs.

“Requiring e-prescribing in Medicare would improve medication adherence by alerting physicians and patients when clinically sound, yet more affordable drugs are available to treat specific conditions. Currently, neither seniors nor their doctors are aware of their full range of pharmacy options, including generic drugs, less expensive brand name alternatives, and the more affordable mail-service pharmacy option. Furthermore, e-prescribing could prevent up to 1.9 million medication errors, saving beneficiaries and the federal government billions over the next decade.

“Existing proven pharmacy benefit management tools—including the increased use of generics and the mail-service pharmacy option—are generating savings on average of 29 percent compared to retail purchases with no pharmacy benefit management support. Earlier this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that the use of these proven tools in Part D will save beneficiaries and the program $693 billion over the 2008 to 2017 period, including $43 billion in reduced prescription drug costs in 2008 alone.”

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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which administer prescription drug plans for more than 210 million Americans with health coverage provided through Fortune 500 employers, health insurance plans, labor unions, and Medicare Part D.

Contact Information:
Charles Coté 202-207-3605