title: Stretching the managed care dollar in the new millennium: the practice of detailing primary care physicians.
abstract: Pharmaceutical expenditures in this country are on the rise and the increase is expected to continue at double-digit rates in the foreseeable future. This study focuses on the ways in which the managed care industry can impact pharmaceutical costs through peer-to-peer data sharing or academic detailing. Making use of analysis in conjunction with a major Midwestern Health Maintenance Organization, we evaluate the immediate impacts of academic detailing efforts, and find it to have a substantial mitigating impact on pharmaceutical trends. Moreover, we find academic detailing to be cost-effective means of altering physician-prescribing behavior.
authors.affiliation: Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Douglas N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Bunn
authors.forename: Jenny Rae
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hawkins
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000639:trends; D004345:Drug Industry; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education*; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D015146:Midwestern United States; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics*