What these professionals and stakeholders are saying about Prescribed Solutions …

From October 24, 2011

The Chronicle Herald

A Prescription For Cheaper Medication.

' Eric Crowell, director of the Saint Mary's University Business Development Center, Says,

" Prescribed Solutions Consulting has found an innovative way to work within an existing system for much-needed changes.

" everyone knows that medical costs are an area where many solutions need to be found, and our society needs to find them quickly. It's great that we have a company here in Nova Scotia that's innovating and producing better outcomes in ways that lower costs, while maintaining the quality of treatment patients receive.

Sometimes the simplest approach is an amazingly effective one " he adds'

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If patients can’t afford their drug therapy, they won’t fill their scripts, it’s as simple as that. From studying the prescribing patterns of physicians over the last decade I have found that doctors have been kept astonishingly ignorant of the comparative cost-effectiveness profiles of the key drugs they routinely prescribe. I can’t think of any group in Canada doing a better job of making this information available to doctors than Prescribed Solutions. Their approach has always struck me as clever and innovative, arming doctors with actionable messages which ultimately work to make prescribing more affordable, and hence more effective.

Alan Cassels

Drug Policy Researcher and Author,

University of Victoria,

Victoria, BC

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Controlling costs is critical to ensuring that employee benefit plans are sustainable and continue to meet the needs of employees, their families and employers. As drug plans are often the most significant part of those costs, they are an important focus for plan members and plan sponsors.

Addressing rising costs requires a collaborative approach: individual plan members (employees), plan sponsors (employers) and prescribing physicians all have a part to play in managing costs to keep prescription drug plans sustainable. Ultimately, if a plan is unsustainable, it is plan members and their families who lose out. I like the fact that Prescribed Solutions' model engages physicians in the conversation and invites them to be part of the solution.

R. J. (Roddy) Macdonald, CHRP

Vice President - Human Resources

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation

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Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association statement

"Retail or reimbursed prices of generic drugs are being reduced in more than 95 percent of the Canadian market. In virtually all jurisdictions, prices are also being decreased for private sector payers, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, which account for more than 90 percent of the Canadian market.

However, price doesn't matter if you're not using them.

The use of generic drugs by provincial drug plans in Canada is considerably higher than generic drug use by private sector payers. Data from ims brogan shows that generic drugs are dispensed to fill more than 60 percent of prescriptions paid for by public drug programs but only 47 percent of private sector prescriptions. Private sector payers in Canada save an additional $126-million for every one percent increase in their use of generic drugs.

In the United States market, which is dominated by private payers, generic drugs are dispensed to fill fully 78 percent of all prescriptions. If generic utilization in Canada was equal to that in the United States, private sector payers would have saved an additional two billion dollars in 2010."

"Innovative programs like Prescribed Solutions can help increase the usage of generics and help payers control their plan expenditures..."

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"The prescribing habits of physicians are a key driver in the rising cost of health benefit plans, yet physicians have minimal knowledge of the cost of the treatments they prescribe and no accountability. If patients are to have access to medications, critical to their health, then health benefit plans must remain affordable. Education of physicians through unbiased academic detailing (education on pharmaceutical benefits and costs), such as offered by Prescribed Solutions Inc, is an important step in influencing prescribing habits without adversely affecting the health of patients, creating more administrative activities (eg: managed formularies) or limiting access to required medications. "

Matthew Burnstein, MD

Occupational Health Consultant

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PSCI HRM Project – Desjardins Support Statement

Plan sponsors need to effectively manage prescription drug costs over the long-term if they want to keep their benefit plans viable. To do this, they need to have a range of tools at their disposal – what works for one group doesn't necessarily work for another.

As an industry stakeholder, we have a vested interest in helping plan sponsors meet this challenge. The model developed by Prescribed Solutions is very practical and comes at a time when sponsors have a strong appetite for ideas beyond further cuts to benefits. By talking directly to physicians about prescribing lower cost alternatives, and using independent research to support it, they create an opportunity for positive impact on plan costs by freeing up otherwise wasted benefit plan dollars. We want to be part of the solution and our support of the project reflects that.

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"Prescribed Solutions delivered the critical missing link to me as a drug plan sponsor trying to control costs: physician engagement. Their strategy is brilliantly simple: you can't beat the strategy of Brand Pharma marketing, but you can use it to achieve your own goals. I would use them again in any local area to engage physicians in cost-effective prescribing and increasing usage of lower-cost prescriptions."

Hugh Paton

Strategic Partner at Connolly Financial Group

President at Paton Consulting Ltd.

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"There are a number of initiatives that suppliers of drug benefit programs (i.e. employers and governments) can take advantage of and build upon in order to help reduce the rising costs of pharmaceuticals. However, the greatest success will most likely come from new and innovative programs aimed at physician prescription writing behaviors. To do this, we need to eliminate the knowledge gap between physicians and prescription drug costs. The information needs to be made available and easily accessible to the physicians… …. The members of Prescribed Solutions Inc. are advocating on behalf of governments, employers, and any and all organizations with drug benefit plans provided to employees or populations."

Eric Wainwright, BSc, MHA Physicians’ Knowledge of Prescription Pharmaceutical Costs. A survey of Atlantic Canadian physicians.

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While everyone acknowledges the inexorable rise in the cost of drug benefit programs is unsustainable, most payers feel powerless to address this daunting challenge. Prescribed Solutions brings invaluable insights into the forces driving these costs, and empowers payers with proactive solutions designed to address this real and growing problem.

Roy Richardson

Healthcare Consultant

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“There’s no question that physicians’ prescription decisions have a large impact on medication expenses. Prescribed Solutions’ innovative solution aims to provide physicians with balanced information about which medicines to prescribe – potentially reducing the costs of drug benefit plans.”

Lidija Marusic Investment Manager Innovacorp

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Quote By: Neil J. MacKinnon, PhD, FCSHP

“ While physicians did admit that they are generally not well informed about the prices of the prescription drugs they are writing, they did express a desire to have that information in order to make cost effective decisions for their patients. They also expressed that it is difficult for them to obtain that information, that it is not readily accessible. The encouraging part is that physicians did express the opinion that if the appropriate information were to be available they would use it to make cost effective decisions for their patients. They would take into consideration the financial constraints of the patient, and of the health care system. Cost savings are possible, and can be realized through providing physicians with the appropriate information, as was provided to the physicians by the applied detailers. ( Prescribed Solutions)”

Neil J. MacKinnon, PhD, FCSHP Associate Director for Research and Professor, College of Pharmacy Professor, School of Health Administration and Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine Dalhousie University College of Pharmacy 5968 College St. Halifax, Nova Scotia

President, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists Co-author, Take as Directed http://www.ecwpress.com/book/take-directed

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“As a community pharmacist, working in a busy, sometimes hectic environment, I would be very supportive of any Project that brings drug plan sponsors, unions, pharmacists and physicians together in a collaborative effort to Provide a more efficient and cost-effective provision of prescription medicines.”

Jack Davies, Community pharmacist

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