Background: Two programs to reduce expenditures for common gastrointestinal drugs were
introduced simultaneously by British Columbia (BC) Pharmacare in 1995. Reference-based …

Background. In October 1995, British Columbia introduced a reference pricing policy for five
therapeutic classes of drugs, including histamine 2 receptor antagonists (H 2 RAs), for …

Background: Concerned with the rising costs of its drug programs for seniors and social-
assistance recipients, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador requested physicians …

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic maximum allowable cost (MAC) is a managed care
intervention that uses reference pricing in a therapeutic class or category of drugs or an …

The objectives were to assess the parenteral route for cimetidine and ranitidine and to
determine excess medication costs associated with inappropriate use. Criteria were based …

Objectives: Newer oral allergic rhinitis (AR) medications, the second‐generation
antihistamines (SGAs) have gained widespread acceptance because of their efficacy and …

Objectives. The authors assess the costs associated with treatment of dyspepsia with
histamine 2 antagonists versus without availability of over-the-counter (OTC). Methods. A …

Background: Increasing copayments for higher-priced prescription medications has been
suggested as a means to help finance drug coverage for elderly patients, but evaluations of …

Objective With the growing need to provide prescription drug benefits to older patients and
to contain costs, it will be necessary to direct that coverage so as to make expenditures as …

Purpose To explore the effect on prescribing of policies that lift reimbursement restrictions on
selected H2‐antihistamines and proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and of practice …