February 14, 2008
New York State Tracking Rx Prices for Consumers
Consumers may not always give it much thought, but there can wide spreads on the cost of the same prescription from one pharmacy to another. Many of today’s time-pressed consumers, particularly those with prescription med plans, probably don’t make much of an effort to do price comparisons to make sure they’re getting the best deal available.
In New York, the state government has decided that it should help consumers to get the best price on prescription drugs. To achieve that aim, New York’s Department of Health has launched a website, www.rx.nyhealth.gov, that publishes the prices of the 150 most prescribed drugs by areas throughout the state.
A price comparison on the prescription sleep aid Lunesta in the Buffalo area by Business First of Buffalo found a price discrepancy of nearly $58 between the highest and lowest priced pharmacies.
“Consumers compare prices when they buy groceries or buy clothes. Yet for health care, a large share of a New Yorker’s income, it is difficult if not impossible for consumers to do the same,” said Lieutenant Governor David Paterson. “This new website corrects this problem for prescription drugs, bringing overall health care costs down while saving New Yorkers money.”
Discussion Questions: Do you see any issues with New York state running a prescription medicine price comparison website? Will we see many other states or perhaps private entities replicating what New York is doing? What will this mean for pharmacies?
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Way to go New York! This is a no-lose consumer proposition. From the number of US citizens that buy drugs online from Canada and other countries, there is an obvious desire to seek the best prices on drugs. I hope other states follow New York’s lead.
This site has some value, and I am generally in favor of improving the transparency of prescription drug prices. It does not bother me that the State of New York is the host, since evidently private enterprise has not seen fit to offer this basic service on its own.
I am a bit concerned that the site may not offer enough information for shoppers to make fully informed decisions. A key limitation is its design around 30-pill quantities. A one-month supply is typically the amount authorized by medical insurers. However some common generic medications have a much lower unit cost when purchased for cash in 100-pill quantities. Many pharmacies “forget” to mention this option unless asked, and instead process prescriptions through the insurer to obtain the much higher repeat reimbursements.
It remains up to the consumer to compare these prices with their insurance reimbursement table–typically a fat booklet full of tiny print. If I ran a pharmacy, I’d display a tote board with the 100 most common Rx drugs and their cash prices, and install a touchscreen web appliance where consumers can check the deals on their insurance plans.
The battle cry seems to be that consumers do not take control of their health costs, that if only consumers were more attentive in their record keeping and everyday lifestyles that they could drastically reduce their expenses on health care. But the other factor in all this is that consumers need another way to determine quality.
Prescriptions are only one aspect of health care where the consumer has no information on which to base their decision. Sure, it is correct to assume that the same drug sold in different stores has the same quality, but what about service providers? Is one doctor better than another because they charge more? Is one surgeon better than another because they build a fantastic success rate by refusing the most difficult cases?
We’ve seen what a “lack of transparency” has done to the financial industry. Anything that can be done to give consumers more information about the health choices they must make can do nothing but help.
I looked at this site and it was full of errors and incomplete. I tested one drug and it came back saying no Medicaid claims for the drug. And this was on Long Island. Another showed a brand name price of $9 as the lowest price and then $112 as the second lowest price. Well, we know that’s wrong.
I think the intention is well meaning but the accuracy is way off. It was also hard to believe that some small independent pharmacy was lower priced than Wal-Mart. Common sense would tell me to be very cautious and that the consumer should call the pharmacy to verify.
While the site is a good step forward to increasing health care cost transparency to consumers, the costs provided are not relevant to the vast majority of the population with pharmacy benefits. These patients are only liable for co-payments not the total cost of the drug which appears to be the information provided on the site. Copays are obviously a function of the Rx formulary, not the retail store and this site will therefore have limited impact from a consumer perspective on retail pharmacy.
That said, it is clear from the rapid expansion of $4.00 generics, that consumers are open to learning how to save on their prescription medications. According to recent data published in Drug Store News, 76% of consumers report that their Rx’s are filled with generics at least half of the time. That trend has a dramatic impact on retail pharmacy with approximately $60 Billion (IMH health)in branded prescription medications coming off patent in the next 5 years.
New York State taxpayers would find it interesting if the New York State prescription drug web site showed its Medicaid payment prices versus other states. Texas taxpayers pay a lot less than New York taxpayers for exactly the same Medicaid prescriptions. So a CVS in Houston gets paid less than a CVS in Buffalo.
Again government provides a solution. Now we must introduce another bill to provide computers and training in their operation, along with a monthly stipend to pay for and maintain a high speed internet connection so the web site can be accessed. I believe we would be better off if the State of New York required each community in New York State to provide free local (day old) newspapers to residents. Another law would require every newspaper to publish every day the list of drugs and their prices. The distribution of “day old” newspapers should not cost the publishers anything as they are pulled from distribution & hopefully recycled now. Or we could devote a cable TV channel to drug cost. This would scroll drug cost on a continuous basis. Hey, don’t get me wrong, the web site is good, it’s just that not nearly everyone is web enabled.
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Way to go New York! This is a no-lose consumer proposition. From the number of US citizens that buy drugs online from Canada and other countries, there is an obvious desire to seek the best prices on drugs. I hope other states follow New York’s lead.
This site has some value, and I am generally in favor of improving the transparency of prescription drug prices. It does not bother me that the State of New York is the host, since evidently private enterprise has not seen fit to offer this basic service on its own.
I am a bit concerned that the site may not offer enough information for shoppers to make fully informed decisions. A key limitation is its design around 30-pill quantities. A one-month supply is typically the amount authorized by medical insurers. However some common generic medications have a much lower unit cost when purchased for cash in 100-pill quantities. Many pharmacies “forget” to mention this option unless asked, and instead process prescriptions through the insurer to obtain the much higher repeat reimbursements.
It remains up to the consumer to compare these prices with their insurance reimbursement table–typically a fat booklet full of tiny print. If I ran a pharmacy, I’d display a tote board with the 100 most common Rx drugs and their cash prices, and install a touchscreen web appliance where consumers can check the deals on their insurance plans.
The battle cry seems to be that consumers do not take control of their health costs, that if only consumers were more attentive in their record keeping and everyday lifestyles that they could drastically reduce their expenses on health care. But the other factor in all this is that consumers need another way to determine quality.
Prescriptions are only one aspect of health care where the consumer has no information on which to base their decision. Sure, it is correct to assume that the same drug sold in different stores has the same quality, but what about service providers? Is one doctor better than another because they charge more? Is one surgeon better than another because they build a fantastic success rate by refusing the most difficult cases?
We’ve seen what a “lack of transparency” has done to the financial industry. Anything that can be done to give consumers more information about the health choices they must make can do nothing but help.
I looked at this site and it was full of errors and incomplete. I tested one drug and it came back saying no Medicaid claims for the drug. And this was on Long Island. Another showed a brand name price of $9 as the lowest price and then $112 as the second lowest price. Well, we know that’s wrong.
I think the intention is well meaning but the accuracy is way off. It was also hard to believe that some small independent pharmacy was lower priced than Wal-Mart. Common sense would tell me to be very cautious and that the consumer should call the pharmacy to verify.
While the site is a good step forward to increasing health care cost transparency to consumers, the costs provided are not relevant to the vast majority of the population with pharmacy benefits. These patients are only liable for co-payments not the total cost of the drug which appears to be the information provided on the site. Copays are obviously a function of the Rx formulary, not the retail store and this site will therefore have limited impact from a consumer perspective on retail pharmacy.
That said, it is clear from the rapid expansion of $4.00 generics, that consumers are open to learning how to save on their prescription medications. According to recent data published in Drug Store News, 76% of consumers report that their Rx’s are filled with generics at least half of the time. That trend has a dramatic impact on retail pharmacy with approximately $60 Billion (IMH health)in branded prescription medications coming off patent in the next 5 years.
New York State taxpayers would find it interesting if the New York State prescription drug web site showed its Medicaid payment prices versus other states. Texas taxpayers pay a lot less than New York taxpayers for exactly the same Medicaid prescriptions. So a CVS in Houston gets paid less than a CVS in Buffalo.
Again government provides a solution. Now we must introduce another bill to provide computers and training in their operation, along with a monthly stipend to pay for and maintain a high speed internet connection so the web site can be accessed. I believe we would be better off if the State of New York required each community in New York State to provide free local (day old) newspapers to residents. Another law would require every newspaper to publish every day the list of drugs and their prices. The distribution of “day old” newspapers should not cost the publishers anything as they are pulled from distribution & hopefully recycled now. Or we could devote a cable TV channel to drug cost. This would scroll drug cost on a continuous basis. Hey, don’t get me wrong, the web site is good, it’s just that not nearly everyone is web enabled.