[News release] How to get smarter on pills for seniors

From the 23 March 2015 MedicalExpress post

Various pills (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Open the medicine cabinet of a senior and you’re likely to find scores of pill bottles. Physicians are often unaware of all the medications a patient is taking, which can result in unnecessary additional prescriptions, non-prescription medications and potential drug-drug interactions that cause unexpected adverse effects. When a cancer diagnosis is thrown into the mix, the drug-drug interactions can become even more complex. A new study evaluates the currently available screening tools for determining if and when seniors with cancer are taking too many medications and finds that a more comprehensive medication assessment and monitoring plan is needed to improve treatment for this population.

[Atlantic article] The Cold-Medicine Racket

From the 19 December 2014 Atlantic article by JAMES HAMBLIN

There are now hundreds of flashy “cold and flu” products, but still only a handful of simple, cheap ingredients. Here’s one new way to cut through the noise.

One in four people, when buying an over-the-counter medicine to treat a headache, will go for a brand name product. Unless that person is a pharmacist. In that case, according to research from the National Bureau of Economic Research, they’ll almost certainly buy a generic version. The pharmacists know, and trust, that the drugs are identical.

But Bayer aspirin costs $6.29 at CVS, while the same amount of CVS-brand aspirin costs less than a third of that, $1.99. The two products are required by law to be “bioequivalent,” and CVS even has signs imploring shoppers to go for the cheaper option. Yet many people do no such thing. The difference in price between brand names and generics accounts for tens of billions of dollars “wasted” every year by Americans in pharmacies, according to the economics researchers. They also found that more highly educated people are more likely to buy generic medications, concluding that “misinformation explains a sizable share of the brand premium for health products.”

Consumer confusion, or misplaced trust, is compounded by the fact that a drug store is likely to have upwards of 300 cold-and-flu products.

…

Angelotti, formerly at Google, has now co-created a program that can help people pare down their options. On the Iodine site, you can click on the symptoms you’re experiencing, and that will comb a database of common cold-and-flu products and tell you which ones meet your needs. The results also include product reviews (via Google, with over 100,000 medication reviews so far), dosage forms (liquid or pill), active ingredients, and the names of generic versions at various pharmacies.

[janice’s note…it would still be wise to consult with an expert…as in a licensed pharmacist!]

[Press release] Health, United States, 2013 includes special section on prescription drugs

From the 14 May 2014 press release

Most common prescription drugs among adults are those for cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol

About half of all Americans reported taking one or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days during 2007-2010, and 1 in 10 took five or more, according to Health, United States, 2013, the government’s annual, comprehensive report on the nation’s health.

This is the 37th annual report prepared for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.  The report includes a compilation of health data from state and federal health agencies and the private sector.

This year’s report includes a special section on prescription drugs.  Key findings include:

• About half of all Americans in 2007-2010 reported taking one or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days.  Use increased with age; 1 in 4 children took one or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days compared to 9 in 10 adults aged 65 and over.
• Cardiovascular agents (used to treat high blood pressure, heart disease or kidney disease) and cholesterol-lowering drugs were two of the most commonly used classes of prescription drugs among adults aged 18-64 years and 65 and over in 2007-2010.  Nearly 18 percent (17.7) of adults aged 18-64 took at least one cardiovascular agent in the past 30 days.
• The use of cholesterol-lowering drugs among those aged 18-64 has increased more than six-fold since 1988-1994, due in part to the introduction and acceptance of statin drugs to lower cholesterol.
• Other commonly used prescription drugs among adults aged 18-64 years were analgesics to relieve pain and antidepressants.
• The prescribing of antibiotics during medical visits for cold symptoms declined 39 percent between 1995-1996 and 2009-2010.
• Among adults aged 65 and over, 70.2 percent took at least one cardiovascular agent and 46.7 percent took a cholesterol-lowering drug in the past 30 days in 2007-2010.  The use of cholesterol-lowering drugs in this age group has increased more than seven-fold since 1988-1994.
• Other commonly used prescription drugs among those aged 65 and older included analgesics, blood thinners and diabetes medications.
• In 2012, adults aged 18-64 years who were uninsured for all or part of the past year were more than four times as likely to report not getting needed prescription drugs due to cost as adults who were insured for the whole year (22.4 percent compared to 5.0 percent).
• The use of antidepressants among adults aged 18 and over increased more than four-fold, from 2.4 percent to 10.8 percent between 1988-1994 and 2007-2010.
• Drug poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics among those aged 15 and over more than tripled in the past decade, from 1.9 deaths per 100,000 population in 1999-2000 to 6.6 in 2009-2010.
• The annual growth in spending on retail prescription drugs slowed from 14.7 percent in 2001 to 2.9 percent in 2011.

Health, United States, 2013 features 135 tables on key health measures through 2012 from a number of sources within the federal government and in the private sector.  The tables cover a range of topics, including birth rates and reproductive health, life expectancy and leading causes of death, health risk behaviors, health care utilization, and insurance coverage and health expenditures.
The full report is available at www.cdc.gov/nchs

 

[Reblog] ‘Inherently dangerous’ drugs routinely prescribed to seniors: Report

Overdose drug available for families of addicts

Seems to be a very humane law, even though it is controversial.

From the 20 November 2013 edition of The Oklahoman

Oklahoma House Bill 1782 allows a medical provider to prescribe naloxone to a family member of someone who has a chance of overdosing. The drug helps restart breathing of someone who has overdosed.

Gail Box said she knows it can be difficult for parents to have conversations with their children about drug use.

But parents should consider talking to their children and also carrying naloxone if they think it could help save their children’s lives, she said.

“I wish, if I could go back, I would try to act on those feelings that I had at that time,” she said. “You can tell me anything you want, but I will always shoulder a great deal of guilt as a result of what happened to my son because as a parent, as a mother, it’s my job to protect him, and I didn’t.”

….

“There are people who have complete unintentional overdose who think they’re taking the right amount of pain medication, or they legitimately have a prescription but it’s not working so they take a little bit more,” White said. “This can also be critical in saving lives of people who are trying to use their pain medication appropriately.”

 

The law comes at a time when Oklahoma continues to see high rates of prescription drug abuse and overdose deaths.

Oklahoma ranks among the top five states with the highest rate of prescription overdose deaths. And prescription drug abuse is one of the fastest growing types of drug abuse in the state.

Prescription drug overdoses kill more people in Oklahoma than car accidents.

Oklahoma leaders plan to release the state’s strategy for combating prescription drugs in the next few months.

“It’s really good that we’re addressing this now as opposed to 10 years from now,” White said.

Before House Bill 1782 passed, naloxone was carried on many, if not all, paramedic ambulances and fire engines across Oklahoma, said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe, the medical director for the emergency medical services system for Oklahoma City and Tulsa metros.

However, the law expands who can administer the drug. That’s where Goodloe’s concern comes in. Goodloe said he’s concerned about whether people who aren’t trained in medicine, such as law enforcement officers, will be able to deliver the drug appropriately.

“The first tenet of medicine … is do no harm, so in the process of helping people, we take an oath not to purposely harm them, and my concern with this bill is that, while its intent is nothing but admirable, the end result is I truly believe we will harm some people in fully executing its authority in the commission of trying to help people,” Goodloe said.

Goodloe said when people are given naloxone, they can wake up into a life-threatening withdrawal situation, suffering from horrific vomiting, extreme sweating and dangerously high heart rate and blood pressure.

Not every person given naloxone will go into this type of withdrawal, he said. However, it does occur.

….

Related articles

• [Press Release] Prescription Drug Abuse: Strategies to Stop the Epidemic (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Oklahoma ranks 5th in drug overdose, expert explains how to lower that rank (kfor.com)
• Report says states are failing to curb prescription drug abuse (wqad.com)
• NM senator takes on prescription drug abuse (kansascity.com)
• Five more laws to help stop Maine’s prescription drug epidemic (bangordailynews.com)
• Prescription drug legislation unveiled (krqe.com)
• Report: W.Va. has highest rate of fatal overdoses (kansascity.com)

 

[Press Release] Prescription Drug Abuse: Strategies to Stop the Epidemic

From the 7 October 2013 press release at Trust for America’s Health – Preventing Epidemics. Protecting People.

Prescription Drug Abuse: More than Half of States Score 6 or Less out of 10 on New Policy Report Card, While Drug Overdose Deaths Doubled in 29 States in the Last Decade

Washington, D.C. October 7, 2013 – A new report, Prescription Drug Abuse: Strategies to Stop the Epidemic, finds that 28 states and Washington, D.C. scored six or less out of 10 possible indicators of promising strategies to help curb prescription drug abuse. Two states, New Mexico and Vermont, received the highest score receiving all 10 possible indicators, while South Dakota scored the lowest with two out of 10.

According to the report by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), prescription drug abuse has quickly become a top public health concern, as the number of drug overdose deaths – a majority of which are from prescription drugs – doubled in 29 states since 1999. The rates quadrupled in four of these states and tripled in 10 more of these states.

Prescription drug related deaths now outnumber those from heroin and cocaine combined, and drug overdose deaths exceed motor vehicle-related deaths in 29 states and Washington, D.C. Misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers alone costs the country an estimated $53.4 billion each year in lost productivity, medical costs and criminal justice costs. Currently only one in 10 Americans with a substance abuse disorder receives treatment.

“Prescription drugs can be a miracle for many, but misuse can have dire consequences. The rapid rise of abuse requires nothing short of a full-scale response – starting with prevention and education all the way through to expanding and modernizing treatment,” said Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH. “There are many promising signs that we can turn this around – but it requires urgent action.”

In the Prescription Drug Abuse report, TFAH – in consultation with a number of public health, clinical, injury prevention, law enforcement and community organization experts – reviewed a range of national recommendations and examined a set of 10 indicators of strategies being used in states to help curb the epidemic. There are indications that some of these efforts and strategies may be having a positive impact — the number of Americans abusing prescription drugs decreased from 7 million in 2010 to 6.1 in 2011, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Some key findings from the report include:

• Appalachia and Southwest Have the Highest Overdose Death Rates: West Virginia had the highest number of drug overdose deaths, at 28.9 per every 100,000 people – a 605 percent increase from 1999, when the rate was only 4.1 per every 100,000. North Dakota had the lowest rate at 3.4 per every 100,000 people. Rates are lowest in the Midwestern states.
• Rescue Drug Laws: Just over one-third of states (17 and Washington, D.C.) have a law in place to expand access to, and use of naloxone – a prescription drug that can be effective in counteracting an overdose – by lay administrators.
• Good Samaritan Laws: Just over one-third of states (17 and Washington, D.C.) have laws in place to provide a degree of immunity from criminal charges or mitigation of sentencing for individuals seeking to help themselves or others experiencing an overdose.
• Medical Provider Education Laws: Fewer than half of states (22) have laws that require or recommend education for doctors and other healthcare providers who prescribe prescription pain medication.
• Support for Substance Abuse Treatment: Nearly half of states (24 and Washington, D.C.) are participating in Medicaid Expansion – which helps expand coverage of substance abuse services and treatment.
• ID Requirement: 32 states have a law requiring or permitting a pharmacist to require an ID prior to dispensing a controlled substance.
• Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: While nearly every state (49) has a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to help identify “doctor shoppers,” problem prescribers and individuals in need of treatment, these programs vary dramatically in funding, use and capabilities. For instance, only 16 states require medical providers to use PMDPs.

“Fifty Americans die a day from prescription drug overdoses, and more than 6 million suffer from prescription drug abuse disorders. This is a very real epidemic – and warrants a strong public health response,” said Andrea Gielen, ScD, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. “We must use the best lessons we know from other public health and injury prevention success stories to work in partnership with clinical care, law enforcement, the business community, community-based organizations, and other partners to work together to curb this crisis.”

Key recommendations from the report include:

• Educate the public to understand the risks of prescription drug use to avoid misuse in the first place;
• Ensure responsible prescribing practices, including increasing education of healthcare providers and prescribers to better understand how medications can be misused and to identify patients in need of treatment;
• Increase understanding about safe storage of medication and proper disposal of unused medications, such as through “take back” programs;
• Make sure patients do receive the pain and other medications they need, and that patients have access to safe and effective drugs;
• Improve, modernize and fully-fund Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, so they are real-time, interstate and incorporated into Electronic Health Records, to quickly identify patients in need of treatment and connect them with appropriate care and identify doctor shoppers and problem prescribers;
• Make rescue medications more widely available by increasing access for at-risk individuals to naloxone and provide immunity for individuals and others seeking help; and
• Expand access to and availability of effective treatment options as a key component of any strategy to combat prescription drug abuse.

According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), nationally, sales of prescription painkillers per capita have quadrupled since 1999 – and the number of fatal poisonings due to prescription painkillers has also quadrupled. Enough prescription painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult continually for a month.

“The release of the prescription drug abuse report by the Trust for America’s Health represents a significant step forward in elevating public awareness of the state of prescription drug abuse in the US”, according to Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI). “We are proud that the Trust has completed this important research as part of its CHMI Commitment to Action and congratulate the Trust on continuing to advocate for innovation and action towards addressing this public epidemic.”

The report was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Score Summary: A full list of all of the indicators and scores, listed below, is available along with the full report on TFAH’s web site at www.healthyamericans.org and RWJF’s web site athttp://www.rwjf.org/RxReport. For the state-by-state scoring, states received one point for achieving an indicator or zero points if they did not achieve the indicator. Zero is the lowest possible overall score, 10 is the highest. Data for the indicators were drawn from a number of sources, including the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws, NCIPC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Alliance of States with Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, the National Conference of State Legislators, the Network for Public Health Law, the Kaiser Family Foundation and a review of current state legislation and regulations by TFAH. In August 2013, state health departments were provided with opportunity to review and revise their information.

10 out of 10: New Mexico and Vermont

9 out of 10: Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Washington

8 out of 10: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and West Virginia

7 out of 10: Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, Tennessee and Virginia

6 out of 10: Arkansas, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Utah

5 out of 10: Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina

4 out of 10: Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Wyoming

3 out of 10: Missouri and Nebraska

2 out of 10: South Dakota

STATE-BY-STATE DRUG OVERDOSE MORTALITY RANKINGS

Note: Rates include total drug overdose mortality rates, the majority of which are from prescription drugs. 1 = Highest rate of drug overdose fatalities, 51 = lowest rate of drug overdose fatalities. Rankings are based on data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, WONDER Online Database, 2010. The numbers are based on the number of people per 100,000.

1. West Virginia**** (28.9); 2. New Mexico (23.8); 3. Kentucky**** (23.6); 4. Nevada (20.7); 5. Oklahoma*** (19.4); 6. Arizona (17.5); 7. Missouri*** (17); 8. (tie) Tennessee** and Utah (16.9); 10. Delaware** (16.6); 11. Florida** (16.4); 12. Ohio*** (16.1); 13. Rhode Island** (15.5); 14. Pennsylvania (15.3); 15. Wyoming*** (15); 16. South Carolina*** (14.6); 17. Indiana**** (14.4); 18. Michigan*** (13.9); 19. Louisiana*** (13.2); 20. Washington (13.1); 21. (tie) District of Columbia and Montana** and Oregon** (12.9); 24. Colorado (12.7); 25. Arkansas** (12.5); 26. (tie) Alabama*** and Idaho** and New Hampshire** (11.8); 29. Alaska (11.6); 30. (tie) Mississippi***and North Carolina** (11.4); 32. (tie) Maryland and Massachusetts (11); 34. (tie) Hawaii and Wisconsin** (10.9); 36. Georgia*** (10.7); 37. California (10.6); 38. Maine (10.4); 39. Connecticut (10.1); 40. Illinois (10); 41. New Jersey (9.8); 42. Vermont** (9.7); 43. (tie) Kansas** and Texas (9.6); 45. Iowa**** (8.6); 46. New York (7.8); 47. Minnesota** (7.3); 48. Virginia (6.8); 49. Nebraska** (6.7); 50. South Dakota (6.3); 51. North Dakota (3.4).

** Drug Overdose Mortality Rates doubled from 1999 to 2010

*** Drug Overdose Mortality Rates tripled from 1999 to 2010

**** Drug Overdose Mortality Rates quadrupled from 1999 to 2010

Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make diseaseprevention a national priority. For more information, visit www.healthyamericans.org.

 

Related articles

• Five more laws to help stop Maine’s prescription drug epidemic (bangordailynews.com)
• Report says states are failing to curb prescription drug abuse (wqad.com)
• Oklahoma ranks 5th in drug overdose, expert explains how to lower that rank (kfor.com)
• Prescription drug abuse in Pennsylvania (fox43.com)
• NSC report: only three states adequately addressing prescription drug abuse (sacbee.com)

 

[Repost] Prescription Drug Use Among Medicare Patients Highly Inconsistent

From the 17 October 2013 Science Daily article

 A new report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project shows that the use of both effective and risky drug therapies by Medicare patients varies widely across U.S. regions, offering further evidence that location is a key determinant in the quality and cost of the medical care that patients receive.

In their first look at prescription drug use, Dartmouth researchers also find that the health status of a region’s Medicare population accounts for less than a third of the variation in total prescription drug use, and that higher spending is not related to higher use of proven drug therapies. The study raises questions about whether regional practice culture explains differences in the quality and quantity of prescription drug use.

“There is no good reason why heart attack victims living in Ogden, Utah, are twice as likely to receive medicine to lower their cholesterol and their risk of another heart attack than those in Abilene, Texas, but this inconsistency reflects the current practice of medicine in the United States,” said Jeffrey C. Munson, M.D., M.S.C.E., lead author and assistant professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.

“This report demonstrates how far we still have to go as a nation to make sure people get the care they need when they need it,” said Katherine Hempstead, Ph.D., M.A., senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a longtime funder of the Dartmouth Atlas Project. “Instead of varying widely, patterns of care should be nearly uniform across the country for non- controversial drug therapies with a strong evidence for their use.”

The new report offers an in-depth look at how prescription drugs are used by Medicare beneficiaries in the program’s Part D drug benefit, which had 37 million enrollees in 2012. The report separates the country into 306 regional health care markets and examines variations among them in the quantity and quality of prescription drug use, spending, and use of brand name drugs. To examine the quality of care, the report looks at prescription use in three categories:

•  Drug therapies proven to be effective for patients who have suffered heart attacks, have diabetes, or have broken a bone;
•  Discretionary medications, which have less clear benefits, but may be effective for some patients who take them; and
•  Potentially harmful medications, for which risks generally outweigh benefits. 1

Read the entire article here

The full Dartmouth report may be found here

Related articles

• Miami leads nation in Medicare drug spending (miamiherald.com)
• Prescription drug use among Medicare patients highly inconsistent (eurekalert.org)
• Some Americans aren’t getting the right medicines, study finds (nbcnews.com)
• Geography Affects What Drugs Seniors Prescribed (huffingtonpost.com)
• Drug Use Among Seniors Varies From Place To Place: How Geography Can Affect Your Health (medicaldaily.com)
• Geography affects what drugs seniors prescribed (kfwbam.com)
• Geography Affects What Drugs Seniors Prescribed (spiritatworkboise.wordpress.com)
• Dartmouth Institute Publishes Atlas of Medicare Part D Areal Variations (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• Geography affects what drugs seniors are prescribed (wvgazette.com)
• Geography affects what drugs seniors prescribed (newsobserver.com)

[Not just for librarians!] Healthy Aging at Your Library: Connecting Older Adults to Health Information

My volunteer position at the NW Ohio Area Office on Aging brings me in contact with many older Americans with health issues.
The past few months I’ve been making follow up phone calls to screen folks for eligibility for the Extra Help Medicare Prescription Drug program **through the Social Security Office.   Quite a few screenings went beyond the rote answering of  about 15 questions related to income, resources and current prescription drug coverage. At times I got quite an earful of their present medical conditions, financial conditions, and inability to fully take care of themselves and others.  Was usually able to refer folks to in-house and area resources.

This morning I came across a training class for librarians on how to assist older Americans on how to locate health information.
While information doesn’t cure or assist on it’s own, it does empower people.  At the Area Office on Aging, we do not advise, but present information so they can make their own best possible decisions.

The class material is online and free. I’ll be going through the materials on my own. Partly so I can be a better volunteer.
Also, I’ll be adding some of the material to my Google site, Health Resources for All.

Some interesting factoids from the online class, Healthy Aging at Your Library, specifically the Power Point presentation

• The number of Americans aged 65 years or older during the next 25 years will double to about 72 million.
•  By 2030, older adults will account for roughly 20% of the U.S. population.
• 2 out of 3 older Americans have multiple chronic conditions, and treatment for this population accounts for 66% of the country’s health care budget ***

• Heart Disease – #1 cause of death adults over age 65
• Cancer – #2 cause of death adults over age 65
• Patients with low literacy skills were observed to have a 50% increased risk of hospitalization
• Only 3% of older adults surveyed had proficient health literacy skills

Related articles

• Medicare Part D Notice (bwjames.wordpress.com)
• Be ready for shift in Medicare programs (TBO.com)
• Medicare plans underreport risky RXs for seniors (futurity.org)
• Medicare Donut Hole: How to Make the Best of It (health.usnews.com)
• Medicare and the Marketplace: 4 Things You Need to Know (aarp.org)
• Should your doctor consult the librarian? (futurity.org)

**Medicare beneficiaries can qualify for Extra Help with their Medicare prescription drug plan costs. The Extra Help is estimated to be worth about $4,000 per year. To qualify for the Extra Help, a person must be receiving Medicare, have limited resources and income, and reside in one of the 50 States or the District of Columbia.

To see if you qualify, and apply… do one of the following

• Go to  the Extra Help screening tool/application page
• Call the US Social Security Office 1-800-772-1213 (somtimes one can bypass menu options by saying “Customer Service”_
• Contact your nearest Area Office on Aging, United Way, or similar agency

*** Right now at the Area Office, I am doing Medicare Advantage Plans and Part D (Prescription Drug) plan comparisons. Part of the comparison includes entering all prescription drugs used. This can get quite lengthy. Averages around 8 drugs, the record for me was 27 prescription drugs entered for one person.

I encourage folks to compare Medicare Advantage Plans/Part D plans every year. Even if one is happy with one’s plan, it does not hurt to look at others.
Medicare.gov (the official government site) has a tool where one can compare plans for free. The results are in an easy to read chart, which includes prices, coverage, co-pays, and more.

Need assistance in doing the online comparisons? Contact your local Area Office on Aging, United Way, or other related social service agency.

Some Prescription Drug Cost Assistance Programs

Recently I updated my Health Resources for All Web site.

If anyone has any suggestions (including additions), please let me know in the comments section or email me at jmflahiff at yahoo dot com.

 

Here’s the list from Prescription Drug Cost Assistance

[Sorry, it did not copy/paste very well!!]

General Guides

BenefitsCheckUp, a service of the National Council on Aging, can help you find public and private programs that may be able to help pay for your prescription drugs.

Government Programs

Extra Help (sometimes called the Low-Income Subsidy, LIS)

• Medicare Part D assistance through the US Social Security Administration
• Current income and resource limits may be found here
• Automatic enrollment for for those on full Medicaid and SSI
  • Others enroll at http://www.social security.gov, or 1-800-772-1213
  • Or contact your State Health Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program (SHIP)
    • Select SHIP from the pull down menu on the left
• Temporary Part D drug coverage information here

Find a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
Helps find prescription drug coverage regardless of income, health status, or how you pay for prescription drugs today.Click here for when you may enroll.  Additional information on Part D prescription drug plans here.

Nonprofits and Commercial Programs

NeedyMeds

• Non-profit information resource devoted to helping people in need find assistance programs to help them afford their medications and costs related to health care. Includes coverage gap programs.

(More at their About page, Printable brochure here)

             Contact them through their Web site or by telephone (800-503-6897)

• Patient Assistance Programs page includes links to specific programs with application forms.
  • Patient Assistance Program Eligibility Criteria and Medicare Part D
• Other links include
  • Diagnosis-Based Assistance
  • NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card
  • Disease Resource Pages
  • State-Sponsored Programs
  • State Health Insurance Assistance Program Sites
  • Additional links to coupons, rebates, and more

 

Free Rx Plus

• A way to receive discounts on prescription drugs at participting pharmacies. 
• Printable coupon at Web site
• Contact by email or phone (1-888-412-0869). FAQ page here.
• How it Works
  1. Use FreeRxPlus® Bin and Group numbers for FREE access to savings on prescriptions, lab tests, and imaging services.
  2. For access to Lab Test savings: Locate a lab or order your test call toll-free 1-888-412-0869
  3. For access to Imaging Savings: Locate an imaging center or order your service call toll-free 1-888-412-0869
  4. For access to Prescription Savings: Click HERE and locate a participating pharmacy or search for medication pricing. Then simply present your FreeRxPlus® card to the pharmacist for immediate saving

Partnership for Prescription Assistance 

 A collaboration of pharmaceutical companies, health care providers and advocacy organizations. 

Use their services online or contact them at 1-888-477-2669Prescription Assistance Page includes

• Programs searchable by drug, company or program. Results nationally and by state.
• Savings cards (printable) for participating pharmacies
• Diabetic programs and supplies

 PatientAssistance.com, Inc

PatientAssistance.com is a free resource designed to help connect patients who can’t afford their prescription medications with patient assistance programs. Generally for the uninsured and underinsured.

 Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF)

1-800-532-5274

The PAF helps to solve health insurance and access problems. The website has information on resources, programs, and provides personal help. PAF offers assistance to patients with specific issues they are facing with their insurer, employer and/or creditor regarding insurance, job retention and/or debt crisis matters relative to their diagnosis of life threatening or debilitating diseases.

Services provided by PAF include:

• CINV CareLine

  CINV (chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting) CareLine is a patient hotline designed to provide case management assistance to patients diagnosed with cancer and experiencing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting who are seeking education and access to care.

• Co-Pay Relief Program

  The Co-Pay Relief Program currently provides direct financial support to insured patients, including Medicare Part D beneficiaries, who must financially and medically qualify to access pharmaceutical co-payment assistance. The program offers personal service to all patients through the use of call counselors; personally guiding patients through the enrollment process

RxAssist

RxAssist is a website with information, news, and a database that are all designed to help you find out about ways to get affordable, or free, medications. The database includes information on the pharmaceutical companies’ patient assistance programs, or programs that provide free medication to low-income patients. RxAssist was created by Volunteers in Health Care, a national, nonprofit resource center for health care programs working with the uninsured.

National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) Patient Assistance Program may be able to help you find free or reduced-fee prescription drugs for your condition.

Prescription Drug Assistance Programs(American Cancer Society)

RxHope: Patient Assistance Information(Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America)

 

Related articles

• Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage Review; Medicare and Medicaid Policy News and changes 2013 and 2014 : Learning and Finance (pattidudek.typepad.com)
• NCPDP Releases Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coordination of Benefits (COB) Process White Paper (biomedreports.com)
• Save on drug costs (medicare4us.wordpress.com)
• UPDATE: Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Changes Are Expected, Allsup Explains (biomedreports.com)
• UPDATE: Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Changes Are Expected, Allsup Explains (sys-con.com)
• Medicare Part D Continues To Improve Access To Drugs (forbes.com)
• Medicare Part D: Don’t Mess with Success (azhealthconnections.com)
• Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Changes Are Expected, Allsup Explains (biomedreports.com)
• The cost of prescription drugs in the United States are the highest in the world (rxexports.wordpress.com)

 

New Report Shows 85% of Fake Online Drug Outlets Don’t Require Valid Prescription, Fuel Prescription Drug Abuse

Image via Wikipedia

From the 28 July 2011 Drug Information Forum article by Marvin C Pankaskie

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy^® (NABP^®) today issued a public health alert to warn Americans about the serious dangers associated with medicines purchased through fake online pharmacies. A report NABP released today on Internet drug outlets found that 96% of 8,000 rogue Web sites analyzed continue to operate out of compliance with United States pharmacy laws, fuel prescription drug abuse and misuse, and provide an outlet for counterfeit medicines to enter the US drug supply – all of which significantly endanger the health and safety of Americans.

“The fake online pharmacy crisis has reached an epidemic level – they prey on prescription drug abusers and the most vulnerable members of society who rely on medicine every day for their health,” said NABP President Malcolm J. Broussard, RPh. “They offer easy access to potent medicines without a prescription and indiscriminately push dangerous counterfeit drugs. This problem poses a clear danger to Americans’ health and safety and weakens the essential relationships between pharmacists and patients. By issuing a public health alert, we are calling on pharmacists, physicians, and other health professionals to educate their patients about the growing public health threat posed by these illegal online enterprises.”

http://www.nabp.net/news/nabp-issues-rogue-online-pharmacy-public-health-alert/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NabpNewsroom+%28NABP+Newsroom%29

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