Refill non-adherence to repeat prescriptions leads to treatment gaps or to high extra costs
(2007) In PHARMACY WORLD & SCIENCE 29(1). p.19-24- Abstract
- Objective: To determine the nature and extent of undersupply and the economic consequences of oversupply of medication among non-adherent patients. Methods: This study used copies of repeat prescriptions (=multiple dispensations), collected during 1 week in 2002 at 16 Swedish community pharmacies. For patients with a refill adherence below 80%, treatment gaps were defined as the number of days they had no drug available. The cost of drug oversupply (i.e., refill adherence > 120%) was calculated from the prices of the drug packages dispensed. Results: The number of collected repeat prescriptions was 3,636. The median of treatment gaps among patients with a refill adherence below 80% was 53 days per 90-100 days treatment period and the... (More)
- Objective: To determine the nature and extent of undersupply and the economic consequences of oversupply of medication among non-adherent patients. Methods: This study used copies of repeat prescriptions (=multiple dispensations), collected during 1 week in 2002 at 16 Swedish community pharmacies. For patients with a refill adherence below 80%, treatment gaps were defined as the number of days they had no drug available. The cost of drug oversupply (i.e., refill adherence > 120%) was calculated from the prices of the drug packages dispensed. Results: The number of collected repeat prescriptions was 3,636. The median of treatment gaps among patients with a refill adherence below 80% was 53 days per 90-100 days treatment period and the corresponding median for oversupply was 40 days. The cost of oversupply for exempt patients (i.e., patients who have paid 1,800 SEK (196 euro; US$ 243) per year for medicines) was 32,000 SEK (3,500 euro; US$ 4,300) higher than for non-exempt patients. An extrapolation to all Sweden indicates that exemption from charges leads to an additional oversupply of about 142 million SEK (15 million euro; US$ 19 million) per year above that of non-exempt patients. Conclusion: Both undersupply and oversupply of prescribed medicines are common in Sweden. Patients with a refill adherence below 80% seem to have less than half of the prescribed treatment available. Oversupply or drug stockpiling occurs more frequently among exempt than among non-exempt patients, and this oversupply leads to high unnecessary costs. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/674086
- author
- Krigsman, Kristin ; Melander, Arne LU ; Carlsten, Anders ; Ekedahl, Anders and Nilsson, J. Lars G.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- repeat, refill adherence, oversupply, costs, exemption from charges, prescriptions, treatment gaps, undersupply
- in
- PHARMACY WORLD & SCIENCE
- volume
- 29
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 19 - 24
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000244316600004
- scopus:33847153070
- ISSN
- 0928-1231
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11096-005-4797-8
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e49d10bf-a1c5-4fcb-bf24-2122b14946bc (old id 674086)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:36:49
- date last changed
- 2022-03-22 19:53:04
@article{e49d10bf-a1c5-4fcb-bf24-2122b14946bc,
abstract = {{Objective: To determine the nature and extent of undersupply and the economic consequences of oversupply of medication among non-adherent patients. Methods: This study used copies of repeat prescriptions (=multiple dispensations), collected during 1 week in 2002 at 16 Swedish community pharmacies. For patients with a refill adherence below 80%, treatment gaps were defined as the number of days they had no drug available. The cost of drug oversupply (i.e., refill adherence > 120%) was calculated from the prices of the drug packages dispensed. Results: The number of collected repeat prescriptions was 3,636. The median of treatment gaps among patients with a refill adherence below 80% was 53 days per 90-100 days treatment period and the corresponding median for oversupply was 40 days. The cost of oversupply for exempt patients (i.e., patients who have paid 1,800 SEK (196 euro; US$ 243) per year for medicines) was 32,000 SEK (3,500 euro; US$ 4,300) higher than for non-exempt patients. An extrapolation to all Sweden indicates that exemption from charges leads to an additional oversupply of about 142 million SEK (15 million euro; US$ 19 million) per year above that of non-exempt patients. Conclusion: Both undersupply and oversupply of prescribed medicines are common in Sweden. Patients with a refill adherence below 80% seem to have less than half of the prescribed treatment available. Oversupply or drug stockpiling occurs more frequently among exempt than among non-exempt patients, and this oversupply leads to high unnecessary costs.}},
author = {{Krigsman, Kristin and Melander, Arne and Carlsten, Anders and Ekedahl, Anders and Nilsson, J. Lars G.}},
issn = {{0928-1231}},
keywords = {{repeat; refill adherence; oversupply; costs; exemption from charges; prescriptions; treatment gaps; undersupply}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{19--24}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{PHARMACY WORLD & SCIENCE}},
title = {{Refill non-adherence to repeat prescriptions leads to treatment gaps or to high extra costs}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11096-005-4797-8}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11096-005-4797-8}},
volume = {{29}},
year = {{2007}},
}