Health maintenance organizations, drug

BL Harris, A Stergachis, LD Ried. The effect of drug co-payments on utilization and cost of pharmaceuticals in a health maintenance organization. Med Care 28(10) 907 917, 1990. 

Harris, B. and A. Stergachis, "The Effect of Drug Co-payments on Utilization and Cost of Pharmaceuticals in a Health Maintenance Organization," Med. Care, 28,... 

Mandatory drug product selection on the basis of price is common practice in the USA because third-party payers (insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, etc) enforce money-saving regulations. If outside a managed care organization, the prescriber can sometimes override these controls by writing "dispense as written" on a prescription... 

Another survey published in 2000 yielded a much higher figure for herbal drug use. Forty percent of patients at a health maintenance organization (an HMO) took herbal drugs, according to a survey published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. The herbals most frequently used were garlic, aloe, cranberry, and echinacea. 

Higher marketing costs at a time when Social Security institutions and health maintenance organizations insisted on lower selling prices for the drugs being offered. 

During the second phase of pharmacy practice, health care within the U.S. experienced changes in capabilities, regulations, and financing, from the development of the pharmaceutical industry and the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the creation of the first health maintenance organization (HMO). 

Alcohol or drug rehabilitation centers Mental retardation facilities Community health centers Retail pharmacies Health maintenance organizations Hospice... 

FDAMA Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act HMOs, health maintenance organizations VAERS, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System CERTs, Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics ADR, adverse drug reaction... 

The medication cost increase over the past 10 years resulted from a doubling of prescribed medications, as well as a 169% increase in unit cost per medication, presumably owing to a shift to more expensive anti-inflammatory drugs consistent with the recommendations of the NAEPP guidelines. Asthma severity obviously has an impact on cost of care. Studies from health-maintenance organizations suggest that up to 45% of the cost of asthma is accrued by 10% of the patients, primarily as a result of emergency care. ... 

In 1990 there were over 650 companies in the United States that manufactured drugs, but the top 10 U.S. companies accounted for 86.5 percent of domestic drug sales. Generic prescription drugs are estimated to be about 20 percent of the total market. Their use is emphasized in hospitals, which account for 20 percent, and health maintenance organizations (HMOs), which are responsible for 15 percent of prescription purchases. Mail order pharmacies dispense an estimated 5 percent of all outpatient prescriptions. In addition, shipments of nonprescription drugs reached an estimated 10.4 billion in 1990. Research expenditures accounted for 16.85 percent of pharmaceutical sales. 

Medicare Advantage A Medicare-approved private health care plan, such as a health maintenance network or preferred provider organization, that serves as an alternative to a fee-for-service plan for Medicare participants and partially or totally covers prescription drug costs. 

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