http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i788
http://www.biopharmadive.com/news/bmj-study-single-dose-vials-cost-nearly-2b-a-year-in-wasted-cancer-drugs/414989/
Basically, many of the drugs are packaged in sizes intended for use on a single patient but which make waste likely. Obviously, this increases spending by patients (if self-pay) and (government and private) insurance companies (for most patients in the US), resulting in higher costs to taxpayers, employers, and individual policyholders who pay for the insurance.
Wow, thanks, super interesting to me as a recently retired hospital pharmacist. We did tons of chemo and wasted lots of med, yes. Really intriguing to think there might be a push to tighten up on this by producing the drugs in increments that make it easier to get close to the dose with less waste. Except for the rare emergencies (some leukemias), we required orders ahead of time so we could order doses specifically for patients. We kept very little inventory on hand, especially of the newer and/or super expensive meds.
I’ll read it more in depth when I have more time.
I can’t get my leukemia med via retail. Period. Have to go through mail order. Caremark just changed from 90 days supplies to 30, which I suppose might save $$ for those who may have to have dosages changed before 90 days, but for me, it means having to contact them regularly to make sure the next refill will arrive at my house before I run out of meds.
Wonder how much of these wasted drugs are due to patient non-compliance. Just read an article in a patient oncology magazine that patient compliance is terrible for meds that the patient takes at home vs. being administered at the hospital.
CD, sorry to hear you are going to have to deal with CVS/Caremark every month instead of every 3 months now. I have one specialty drug that I must get through mail order and I have never in my entire life had to deal with a company so completely incompetent as they are. I only need my drug twice a year and it’s not for a life threatening condition but in 3 years of dealing with them they have never not screwed up my order. I just spent the last two hours with them on the phone for the third time in two months because they keep shipping me the drug even though I don’t need it shipped until April 1 and didn’t request it be sent (and it’s a drug that needs to be kept refrigerated so I just can’t keep it until I need it.)
Anyhow- I told the first supervisor I wasn’t hanging up until his boss spoke to me. I now have a first and last name and her private work number. Holler if you ever need it!
This article is talking about injectable chemo drugs. There is always some drug left over in the vial… This is inevitable, but the question is how much and why.
Emily, I have to deal with them every 30 days now! I miss Medco – never thought I’d say THAT!
CD, I saw I miss spoke (wrote.)
I had Accredo before H’s employer switched to CVS/Caremark and I never had one problem. It’s been a nightmare from the get go with them. Worst company ever!
I was on hold so long today waiting for the manager who, of course, was in a meeting - that I was able to leave my house and my land line and go to neighbors across the street and get instructions on caring for her plants and a few other things while they are away. I even had a cup of coffee!
I told the manager that maybe their time would be better spent dealing with customers problems then sitting in meetings. I also told her she should google CVS Caremark complaints. There are pages of them.
Accredo was the specialty pharmacy under Medco for me. They used to call to arrange delivery of my next shipment of drugs, which was a little annoying (and they would call back if I didn’t return the call within a day). I appreciate their attentiveness a lot more now! Caremark didn’t even HAVE an online specialty med website (or specialty med tracking on their regular site) when they picked up our plan. No way to track my prescription without calling. Took them almost a year to get that part going.
We also had problems with Caremark when S2 was at school. Caremark said they’d fill 90 day scripts through CVS; CVS said nope!