Tuesday, August 21, 2007

MD's vs pharmacists - let battle commence

Watch out pharmacy - here comes MD's response to "doc in a box"!

Three out of four Americans would have their prescription filled in their doctor's office instead of a pharmacy if given the choice, a new study finds, suggesting physicians are missing an opportunity to improve patient satisfaction and enhance revenue by not dispensing medicine in their office.

The nationwide research, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of Purkinje, a healthcare technology and services company, examined consumer attitudes of an FDA-approved service known as in-office medication or point-of-care dispensing. The practice involves distributing pre-packaged medications directly to patients at the point-of-care, saving them a trip to the pharmacy and allowing them to immediately begin their treatment.

Overall preference for office-based medication dispensing appears to be driven by the prospect of saving time and improving quality of care. A majority of respondents (84%) said such a service would be more convenient, and 62% said it would help them better manage their health.

Other highlights:

Households with children (83%) and respondents age 25-44 (82%) were most likely to have their prescriptions filled in a physician's office if given the choice. There were no apparent attitude differences according to household income or geographic location.

Respondents with an annual household income of less than $25,000 (77%) and those age 25-34 (72%) were most likely to agree that in-office medication dispensing would help them better manage their own health.

In general, there were no attitude differences according to the gender, household income, level of education or geographic location of respondents.

"Thousands of progressive medical and dental offices around the nation are adding medication dispensing as a way to heighten the patient experience and create a new source of revenue," said Tom Doerr, M.D., chief medical officer for Purkinje and a practicing physician.

"Patients like the comfort of having their prescription filled in the privacy of their physician's office, and the convenience of starting their treatment right away."

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5 comments:

Dino William Ramzi said...

I'm not sure that this is necessarily physicians against pharmacists.

It's corporate America that is infringing on primary care and doing so because primary care is in short supply and thus not particularly responsive to a consumer need for convenience.

Plain and simple, it is a business opportunity and far from defending physicians, I'd rather just point out that to understand 'doc-in-the box' or in-office dispensing, all you have to do is follow the money.

Right now, patients would rather pick up their medications where they pick up groceries.

Why not get your physical at Wal-Mart? Frankly, I'd rather just buy stock in all those companies. It won't affect a practice where there's a two-week wait for an appointment and three months for a new patient.

Anonymous said...

Physicians vs. pharmacists? I'm not sure that's a fair conclusion.

In-office medication dispensing (believe it or not) has been around for more than 20 years, and industry sources estimate ~ 15,000 doctors currently dispense prescription medicine at the point of care. Patients like the convenience, and physicians generate a modest new source of revenue that helps offset shrinking reimbursement rates.

Typically, IOD involves dispensing 20-40 of your most popular medications, and almost always, these drugs are generics. Hardly a full service pharmacy. Doctors still write scripts for filling at the local pharmacy, but they also offer the choice to save a trip to the pharmacy in certain instances.

I also think the previous user's comment incorrectly concludes that most Americans enjoy shopping in large supercenters, and that these supercenters are available in all parts of the USA. When a mom has a sick and screaming child with an ear infection, the last place she wants to spend an hour of her life is in the Wal-Mart waiting room. Same thing for a patient who just had a root canal.

The Wal-Mart formulary is limited, it lacks many pain medications, and I believe it has no controlled substances.

If you want a gallon of milk, an oil change and a meal when you fill your prescription, more power to you. But many Americans (including myself) would rather skip the lube job and milk race and head home to rest.

P/S: Most physicians earn a modest amount of money by dispensing medicine at the point of care. $5,000 - $10,000 in extra profit makes it worth dispensing drugs, but it's not that much money in the bigger picture. It's the convenience and potential for better patient compliance that drives the decision to dispense.

Fair disclosure ... my physician dispenses medications in his office. Mostly drugs for acute conditions - aka antibiotics and such. He doesn't dispense my Zocor.

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