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BLOG: The rising cost of generic drugs, part 2 — what you can do about it
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Read more from John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS.
In my last blog post on this topic, we discussed the astronomically rising cost of generic drugs in the U.S. and why this is happening. Certainly it’s a frustrating problem for patients and doctors alike. Here are some tips that may be helpful in navigating the system.
Partner with a pharmacy. In the past few years, my practice has approached neighboring pharmacies both large and small with a list of eye medications that we most commonly prescribe (like those used after surgery). We’ve asked them to give fair treatment to our patients on the cost of both generic and brand-name drugs and not to charge a second co-pay when we ask them to dispense two bottles for a single course of treatment (which is increasingly necessary with gel formulations and smaller bottle sizes). In general, these pharmacies have been more than happy to work with our patients, and we have listed them as recommended pharmacies on the back of our prescription pad. Although our practice gets nothing in return for this, our patients certainly get better service, along with the confidence that they are getting a reasonable price. Get the whole story