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IOWA CITY (AP) — Doctors need to be more conscientious of costs for medicine, because expensive drugs may keep some people from getting their prescriptions filled, a University of Iowa study has found. “The general feeling is that physicians tend to be sort of, I don’t want to say insensitive, but unfamiliar with how much a drug costs,” said Michael Ernst, a phar macy professor who surveyed 149 doctors at seven Iowa family medicine clinics. If doctors are aware of how much patients must pay, they can consider less-expensive alternatives, such as lower-cost prescrip tions or giving patients some free samples. The share of health-care money that goes to drugs is rising. The National Community Pharmacists Association reported that pre scription drug sales increased by 14 percent from 1996 to 1997, mostly because of manu facturer price increases. About 70 percent of the doctors Ernst surveyed said knowing whether the cost of a drug is a burden would influence what they prescribe. The doctors also said they asked patients whether their insurance paid for prescriptions about half the time. Eric Ravitz, a doctor at the Southeast Family Practice clinic in Des Moines, said he is often surprised at how much prescrip tion drugs cost, especially for brand names. “Just when I think I’m overestimating for patients how much it’s going to be, I’m amazed at how much it’s going to cost,” he said. Dr. George Kappos of Ankeny, president of the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians, said most doctors try to find the least-ex pensive drug that will work. But he said that the most expensive medicines can sometimes be cheaper in the long run if they are the most effective. Ernst identified the 50 most commonly prescribed medicines at the seven clinics he surveyed. He then asked the doctors to estimate what a patient without insurance pays for the usual prescription. Doctors tended to underestimate the cost of brand-name drugs and overestimate the cost of generic drugs, Ernst said. More than 40 percent of doctors underesti mated the cost of the antidepressant Prozac by $40 or more, he said.
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Sat, Nov 14, 1998
Page 30
Full Page
Clipped by
Maria B.
USA 12 Sep 2025
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