Studies that focused exclusively on state-based pharmaceutical or prescription assistance programs (SPAPs) (e.g., AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs)) were excluded, because the programmatic structure and funding of these programs differ from the individual- and institutional-targeted PAPs of interest in this study. and 5) focused on pharmaceutical company-sponsored PAPs used to provide prescription drugs to patients. To be included in this review, reports of primary studies had to be: 1) in English 2) published or reported 1980–June 2009 3) original research 4) conducted in the U.S. The purpose of this review is to provide a systematic description of primary studies of PAPs in the commercially published and grey literature. 13 An initial task must be to assess the current state of knowledge and research on these programs. Thus, it is timely to examine the impact that PAPs have on improving access to medications and ultimately patient health outcomes from a clinical, economic and humanistic perspective. adults will remain uninsured and unable to afford their needed medications. 6, 12 Despite the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Health care Act of 2010, millions of U.S. Individual studies of PAPs have reported cost savings to health care institutions, 8– 10 programmatic outputs (e.g., number patients enrolled, number of drugs provided), 11 and the fact that the PAP application process can be complex and burdensome for both patients and providers. No formal entity is responsible for tracking utilization of PAPs or evaluating their effectiveness, nor are there readily available public data on the use of PAPs. 6 Some even question whether reliance on PAPs could reinforce existing disparate outcomes for those without prescription drug coverage. 4 Others are concerned that PAPs may deflect attention from exploring more comprehensive policy solutions, 5 and some question their reach and benefits. Supporters feel that PAPs are an important resource to eligible patients, 1, 2 and believe that increased government regulation of these programs would waste time and money 3 and might even discourage companies from continuing these programs. There are differing views about the value of PAPs. Patient assistance programs (PAPs), sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, provide certain prescription drugs at low or no cost to patients who lack prescription drug coverage. More rigorous research is needed to establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of PAPs from a patient and health care institution perspective. Inadequately designed economic evaluations suggest free PAP medications offset health care institutions’ costs for uncompensated medications and enrollment assistance programs. Enrollment assistance for PAPs with additional medication services (e.g., counseling) was significantly associated with improved glycemic (standardized mean difference = −0.40, 95% CI = −0.59,−0.20 k=3 one-group, pre-post-test 1 comparison-group) and lipid (standardized mean difference = −0.52, 95% CI = 0.78,−0.27 k=3 one-group, pre-post-test 1 comparison group) control. In an attempt to provide a systematic description of primary studies on PAPs, we reviewed 33 unique studies from commercial and grey literature (e.g., government publications, conference abstracts) sources: 15 health care outcome evaluations, seven economic evaluations, seven surveys and four miscellaneous studies. Pharmaceutical patient assistance programs (PAPs) have the potential to improve prescription drug accessibility for eligible patients, but currently there is limited information regarding their effectiveness.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |