BACKGROUND: Incentive-based formularies have been widely instituted to control the
rising costs of prescription drugs. To work properly, such formularies depend on patients to …

Background: Most insurers in the US have implemented incentive-based formularies that
rely on out-of-pocket costs to influence prescription drug utilization. Medicare Part D plans …

Background Physicians often do not communicate with patients about out-of-pocket costs,
although research indicates that physicians and patients value such discussion. Methods …

Objectives: Physicians may be aware of at least 2 types of costs when prescribing: patient's
out-of-pocket costs and the actual costs of the medication. We evaluated physicians' …

ContextOut-of-pocket costs account for approximately one fifth of health care expenditures
and are increasing. Previous research suggests that these costs are associated with …

Methods. We conducted a 2004 patient survey as part of the longitudinal Translating
Research Into Action for Diabetes Study to examine diabetes quality of care in 10 health …

Background: Three-tier pharmaceutical benefit systems use graded co-payments to steer
patients toward “preferred” formulary medications. Objectives: To evaluate physicians' …

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of an educational intervention designed to
improve physicians' knowledge of drug costs and foster willingness to consider costs when …

Background Several states have developed prescription-drug discount programs for
Medicare beneficiaries. In California, Senate Bill 393, enacted in 1999, requires pharmacies …

BACKGROUND: Multi-tier copayment designs in pharmacy benefit plans are intended to
steer patients and prescribers to preferred drug therapies that have lower out-of-pocket costs …