title: Increasing medication access to transplant recipients.
abstract: Transplant recipients require numerous medications to maintain graft survival and health. Post-transplant medication therapy costs greater than 12000 dollars annually, and the cost of therapy is expected to increase. Although medication costs continue to rise, a substantial portion of Americans lack adequate health insurance or do not have any insurance coverage. To facilitate health, it is imperative that health care providers are familiar with programs that are available to increase prescribed medication access to transplant recipients. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide an overview of common programs available to increase transplant recipients' access to medications. In addition to discussing the consequences of medication non-compliance, this manuscript reviews Medicare, Medigap, Medicaid, Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries, and pharmaceutical manufacturers' medication assistance programs and its use to increase medication access to solid-organ transplant recipients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, Medical College of Georgia, CJ-1020, Augusta, GA 30912-2450, USA. Mchishol@mail.mcg.edu
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chisholm
mesh_terms: D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000191:economics*; D017054:Insurance, Medigap / Q000191:economics; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics; D016345:Medicare Part B / Q000191:economics; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D010349:Patient Compliance; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents