title: Medicine price awareness in chronic patients in Belgium.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Under increasing pressure to contain health expenditures governments across Europe have implemented policies to increase responsible medicine use, e.g. by increasing co-insurance paid for by patients. In times of austerity, how do chronic disease patients perceive the medicine price they have to pay?
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a mixed methods research design. First, we distributed a close-ended questionnaire among 983 chronic disease patients in 30 Flemish pharmacies. Second, we performed semi-structured interviews with 15 of these patients. We surveyed for knowledge on the prescription medicine they bought, as well as for their needs for information and their therapeutic compliance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although patients express a lack (and a need) of information on prices during the consultation with the general practitioner (GP), (s)he hardly addresses medicine prices. Patients often only know the medicine price when they are at the pharmacy and patients need to decide to buy the medicine or not. This often results in patients taking the medicine when considered affordable within their social and financial context.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems essential that patients are better informed about medicine prices as well as the constraints on physicians to prescribe cost-effectively. Therefore, medicine prices should be discussed more often during physician consults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Research Unit of Medical Sociology and Health Policy, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: jessica.fraeyman@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fraeyman
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary and Interdisciplinary Care, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Symons
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiopharmacology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: De Loof
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiopharmacology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Guido R Y
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: De Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary and Interdisciplinary Care, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Remmen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Beutels
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Research Unit of Medical Sociology and Health Policy, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Hal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D016527:Drug Costs; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Chronic disease; Cost of illness; Health services accessibility; Mixed methods; Price awareness