Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7906

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Publication type: Journal Article

Kirkpatrick MA, Shadis ER.
Pharmacy connect-free drug program for community dwelling elders
Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 2000 Sep 10; 40:672-674

Abstract:

To describe patients requesting free medication in terms of their age, sex, ethnic group, income, and family size, to determine what therapeutic categories/drugs were requested, and to determine the approximate cost savings of elderly volunteers in the Capital Area Agency on Aging (CAAA) who used Pharmacy Connect (PC) to obtain free medications from pharmaceutical manufacturers, the database created by the PC program of 55 clients was analyzed and 21 of the 55 clients were interviewed about demographic and medical information. The 55 clients were primarily white (49%) and black (47%) women (87%) between the ages of 65 and 85 yr who lived alone on limited incomes between $5000 and $9999 per yr. The clients requested an average of 3 medications with a range of 1-11 prescriptions. Of all drugs requested, 97% were for chronic diseases. The 21 clients surveyed by telephone were also white (57%) and black (38%) women (95%) living alone on limited incomes between $5000 and $9999 per yr. Of these clients, only 7 reported having received any medications through the CAAA PC program. These 7 clients reported having received a total of 9 drugs with an estimated value of $1177.83. The average savings per client was $168. It was concluded that very few elders received their medications, and if prescription benefits are not available for elders, programs such as PC need to be designed or reconstructed to serve these medication needs.