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Are You Letting Patients
Play
Russian Roulette With Your Product?
All
of the costs involved in getting a medication to market are
on the line the moment the doctor puts the prescription in
the patient's hand.
Dr.
Dorothy L. Smith |
At that point—for better or worse—the
patient takes control of the therapy, making the key decisions
that determine whether a medication will be effective.
That
was the message from Consumer Health Information Corporation
President, Dr. Dorothy L. Smith, addressing top healthcare
decision-makers representing the pharmaceutical industry,
government, managed care, insurers, and employers.
Dr. Smith said patients carefully weigh
the risks of taking a drug against the benefits. Because they
don't know how to manage side effects appropriately, many
patients will just stop taking the medication.
"This is why
a newer and more expensive medication with a lower incidence
of side effects is often more cost-effective than an older
drug having more side effects."
"If a patient stops taking an antihypertensive
drug because of the side effects and ends up in the emergency
room, the cost savings of the less expensive drug are wiped
out."
Successful product managers don't gamble
in their marketing plans. They make sure patients know how
to manage common side effects. Consumer Health Information
Corporation has 20 years of experience in developing programs
(meeting FDA requirements) that help patients make wiser decisions
about side effect management.
Are You Teaching Patients
To Manage Side Effects?
A
medication that is more expensive but has fewer side effects
may be the most cost-effective.
Why? When patients experience adverse
effects, many just stop taking the medication. In one study,
28% of patients having side effects stopped the medication
without ever telling their doctor.
In a study of patients taking antihypertensive
medications, 61% of those who did not develop side effects
were compliant. In contrast, only 31% among those who developed
side effects took the medication correctly.
[Click to to see enlarged view]
Contact Consumer Health Information
Corporation to find out how to ensure that patients know what
to expect and know how to manage common side effects. This
will give them a positive alternative to stopping the drug.
Trying
To Get Your Drug
On a Managed Care Formulary?
To
get your product on a managed care organization's formulary,
you need to convince the decision-makers the issue is not
the price of the drug but why your product is more cost-effective
in the long run.
Your product can only be cost-effective
if it is taken correctly. For instance, patients who missed
only 20% of their prescribed dose of beta-blockers for mild
hypertension had a 4.5 to 6.5 fold increased risk of coronary
heart disease.
This is why patient compliance
is at the heart of your product's long term success. It has
been proven that high quality programs that teach patients
how to take their medications result in lower healthcare costs
- An intensive one-week outpatient
program of reevaluation and education of asthma patients
produced a drop of 80% in hospitalizations, 45% in emergency
room visits, and 82% in total hospital days within a year
after the program.
- Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts
realized a 50% drop in treatment costs and a 40% drop in
hospital admissions when they combined an asthma education
program with a 60% increase in the use of anti-inflammatory
inhalers.
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