Assessment of prescribers' knowledge of the cost of medications.
BACKGROUND
In 2003, the World Health Organization reported that 50% of patients are adherent to long-term therapies. Frequently, the reason for a patient's nonadherence is the cost of medications. Even with prescription insurance coverage, patients may not be able to afford their medications.


OBJECTIVE
To assess prescriber knowledge of the cost of commonly prescribed medications including atorvastatin, gabapentin, levofloxacin, losartan, pantoprazole, pioglitazone, and quetiapine. Secondary objectives were to evaluate how often prescribers consult a discounted drug list and a patient's prescription insurance coverage.


METHODS
One hundred prescribers from the Medical University of South Carolina were surveyed from November 2010 to January 2011. Prescribers consisted of medical residents, attending physicians, fellows, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Wholesale prices of medications were determined using the Red Book, and prescription insurance prices were calculated from an average of the top 3 prescription insurance companies' copayments.


RESULTS
Medical residents made up 72% of those surveyed, fellows 3%, attending physicians 12%, physician assistants 3%, and nurse practitioners 10%. The prescriber groups were unable to correctly determine the cost of medications of more than 50% of total possible responses. The majority of prescribers rarely asked about a patient's prescription insurance coverage or consulted a discounted drug list before writing a prescription.


CONCLUSIONS
Prescribers are more likely to know the cost of medications for patients who have prescription insurance coverage versus those who do not.
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA. cogdill@musc.edu
Brittany
B
Cogdill
Jean M
JM
Nappi
D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics; D010349:Patient Compliance; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000191:economics*; D011306:Prescription Fees
D055553:Prescription Drugs