title: Medicare prescription drug plans as perceived by public health providers.
abstract: Providers' knowledge of and satisfaction with Medicare Part D (MPD) remained poor 6 years after the initial implementation in 2006. In the San Francisco Department of Public Health, despite providers' extensive prescribing experience and efforts to prescribe generic over brand medications, identifying a patient's MPD plan, conforming to the formulary, and completing prior authorization requests remain time consuming and challenging to many providers. We advocate for the federal government to take an active role in simplifying, standardizing, and unifying enrollment and formulary information available to providers by creating a provider portal. New regulations should also require MPD companies to conspicuously post formulary information online for easy access. Educational seminars and online tools are available to help providers understand and navigate MPD.
authors.affiliation: San Francisco Department of Public Health, University of California–San Francisco, CA, USA. lenny.chan@uwalumni.com
authors.forename: Lenny Lok Shun
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ko
mesh_terms: D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services; D054524:Medicare Part D; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012495:San Francisco; D014481:United States