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EDITORIAL: Take Your Medicine: Following Doctor's Orders Will Save Money, Drug Makers Say, but Independent Studies Needed

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Mar. 17--One key to reducing health-care costs is to spend wisely. Nearly three-quarters of the $1 trillion spent on health care in the United States every year is for chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. That's $750 billion, a lot of which need not be spent.

For example, a study found that one in five Ohioans who should be taking medications aren't, despite their doctors' recommendations and despite having insurance. This results in worsening medical conditions that cost Ohioans $700 million a year.

Because the study was paid for by the drug company GlaxoSmithKline, one might be suspicious, and one should be. But considering that a 2003 study by the World Health Organization found that in developed countries, only half of all patients under care for a chronic disease follow their agreed-upon treatment regimen, the drug company's findings are plausible.

Meantime, officials in Asheville, N.C., wondered whether health-care costs would go down if people were encouraged to take their medicines and to concentrate on prevention of diseases. The answer was yes.

The Asheville Project, as it has become known, tracked city employees who are diabetic. These workers got their medications free, with no copayments, in exchange for meeting with a specially trained pharmacist once a month to monitor their progress. The pharmacists were paid by the city for their extra time.

In spite of these expense, Asheville saved an estimated 25 percent to 33 percent on health-care costs for these employees over five years. The amount spent on medications went up, but hospitalizations and doctor visits, where costs are highest, went down. The Asheville workers also took half as many sick days as they had before the project.

Now, GlaxoSmithKline, through the American Pharmacists Association, is funding a 10-city trial, hoping to duplicate Asheville's results. Yes, spending more money on drugs would benefit GlaxoSmithKline. But if spending a little more on pharmaceuticals can bring down overall costs and keep people healthier, that would be money well-spent.

The study's backers believe the Ashville trend will hold true for other diseases, such as hypertension, depression, asthma and heart disease. But that will need to be demonstrated through other pilot programs. Because such programs are being pushed by drug companies and could benefit drug companies, they will invite extra scrutiny.

So, what's needed are pilot programs funded by independent bodies that don't stand to benefit directly from the results.

Then such programs can be taken to heart.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

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Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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