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Prescription Drug Benefits

Research Brief
A Systematic Review of the Adverse Effects of Prescription Drug Cost Sharing
This fact sheet summarizes a systematic review of published studies to analyze how the cost-sharing features of prescription drug benefits may affect access to prescription drugs and, consequently, health outcomes.
Sep 11, 2007
News Release
RAND Presents Research Award to Economists from Carnegie Mellon University
The RAND Corporation has presented the first Victor R. Fuchs Research Award to a team from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for publishing the best research paper with the potential to spawn new research in an underdeveloped area of health economics or health policy.
Jul 26, 2007
Journal Article
Effect of Disease Management on Prescription Drug Treatment: What Is the Right Quality Measure?
The authors hypothesize that DM improves adherence to prescriptions more than the rate with which prescriptions are being filled.
Apr 1, 2007
Journal Article
Prescription Drug Cost Sharing: Associations with Medication and Medical Utilization and Spending and Health
Prescription drugs are instrumental to managing and preventing chronic disease.
Jan 1, 2007
Journal Article
Prescription Drug Coverage and Elderly Medicare Spending
The introduction of Medicare Part D has generated interest in the cost of providing drug coverage to the elderly.
Jan 1, 2007
Journal Article
Identifying Widely Covered Drugs and Drug Coverage Variation Among Medicare Part D Formularies
Clinicians find it difficult to know which drugs are covered for their Medicare patients because formularies vary widely among Medicare Part D plans
Jan 1, 2007
Journal Article
Drug Spending Caps Cause Some Seniors to Quit Taking Key Medicines
Many seniors quit taking drugs for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure when they exceed their drug plan's yearly spending limits. Even when drug benefits resume at the start of a new health plan year, a significant number do not resume their prescription medications.
Dec 31, 2006
Commentary
A Simple Rx for Part D
The federal government's new Medicare prescription-drug benefit program for the elderly and disabled, which went into effect Jan. 1, has gotten off to a slow start, writes Geoffrey Joyce.
Jan 13, 2006
Research Brief
Cutting Drug Co-Payments for Sicker Patients on Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Could Save a Billion Dollars Every Year
This Research Brief summarizes the relationship between (1) co-payments and compliance for patients whose doctors prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, and (2) compliance and subsequent use of expensive health care services.
Jan 12, 2006
Journal Article
Cutting Drug Copayments Can Reduce Hospitalizations and Save Money
Cutting drug copayments on cholesterol-lowering medication for the sickest patients would avert nearly 80,000 hospitalizations and more than 31,000 emergency room visits each year — accounting for the more than $1 billion in savings.
Jan 1, 2006
Research Brief
Reviewing Military Retirees' Pharmacy Benefits Could Lower Costs
The U.S. military health care system has experienced rapid growth in expenditures over the past decade. To lower costs, it should discourage retirees' use of retail pharmacies and carefully implement a three-tier drug benefit.
Nov 25, 2005
Dissertation
The Cost and Health Effects of Prescription Drug Coverage and Utilization in the Medicare Population
Examines the effects of Medigap prescription drug benefits on elderly prescription drug spending and Medicare spending in order to estimate the potential offset savings that the Medicare prescription drug program may generate.
Nov 18, 2005
Journal Article
Pharmacy Benefits and the Use of Drugs by the Chronically Ill
Many health plans have instituted more cost sharing to discourage use of more expensive pharmaceuticals and to reduce drug spending.
Jan 1, 2004
Journal Article
Impact of an Annual Dollar Limit or Cap on Prescription Drug Benefits for Medicare Patients
At lower caps, a substantial proportion of Medicare patients exceeded their annual drug benefit.
Jan 1, 2003
Journal Article
American Attitudes Toward and Willingness to Use Psychiatric Medications
Despite recent advances in treatment, many Americans decline to take prescribed psychiatric medication.
Jan 1, 2003
Commentary
Take Two Aspirin and Call Congress
Adding a flexible drug benefit to Medicare would bring costs down, say Dana Goldman and Geoffrey Joyce in an LA Times commentary.
Dec 11, 2002
Journal Article
Employer Drug Benefit Plans and Spending on Prescription Drugs
Many employers and health insurance providers have changed benefits packages to encourage use of fewer or less expensive drugs.
Jan 1, 2002
Research Brief
Costs of a Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: A Comparison of Alternatives
A RAND Health team constructed a microsimulation model to predict drug expenditures in 2001 for a representative cohort of Medicare beneficiaries under the status quo and three different plans.
Jan 1, 2002
Report
The Costs of a Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: A Comparison of Alternatives
This study reports the results of a model predicting drug expenses for Medicare beneficiaries.
Jan 1, 2002
Commentary
A Third-and Better-Way for Prescription-Drug Coverage
Implementing a modest catastrophic benefit with low-income subsidies would provide valuable insurance to the Medicare population. It also would provide a fiscally prudent alternative, allowing policymakers to better gauge future program costs and beneficiary behavior.
Nov 5, 2000

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