Epocrates Survey Finds Medicare Part D Confusing

Medicare Part D has got to be one of the most confusing documents that I have ever had the displeasure of coming across. To spare the political rant, it would appear that our leaders took the short road to acquiesce to every single insurance and drug company around. Basically, the documents appear to give a little bit on one hand (ie. Premiums) in return for a large slice of pie on the other (ie. Increased payment for drugs) or vice versa.

A few drug companies have taken this opportunity to realize greater profits by rescinding some of their previous prescription help programs. For example, one company had a 30 day supply of a drug that usually costs $120/month (for cash paying customers) reduced to $15 per month for patients who did not have insurance and limited income. Once the Medicare program showed up, the company scratched the $15 program. A careful read into the reason showed that among the companies offering Medicare Part D, all but one had a higher copay than the $15 for the drug. The one exception had a higher monthly premium that had to be paid. Who wins? Well, not the patient and certainly not the Doctor.

I find myself spending more time going over these documents, so much so that by the time I finally understood the program, I could not explain it to septuagenarians or octagenarians in a reasonable amount of time without falling further behind. We have had to have people explain, sometimes at 15-30 minutes per visit what the plan is and how they can use it.

Epocrates, the comany that makes the self-named program used by myself and many other physicians and pharmacists took a survey to find out the opinions of those at the forefront of this radical change in our healthcare program.

The results, although not surprising to me show that there is considerable confusion among health care providers in recomending coverage for senior citizens:


94% of physicians still find the program confusing — most confusing areas are coverage gap and specific drug coverage
87% of pharmacists find the program confusing — most confusing area is dual eligible population
99% say that patients are confused, particularly about which plan is best for them
70% of physicians and 96% of pharmacists are spending at least 20% more time on administrative tasks
However, the situation is improving ...
57% believe that Medicare Part D will result in improved care
67% report that using Epocrates Part D formularies is helping them save 11 or more minutes per day


Epocrates.Com

http://www2.epocrates.com/company/news/newsletters/200603.html

One small criticism of the data presented however. There is no N value listed. I would like to know how many people took part in the survey. Perhaps this could be printed at a later date.

LDD.