Title
The Impact of a Therapeutic Interchange Program in a Managed Care Organization
UMMS Affiliation
Meyers Primary Care Institute
Date
9-1999
Document Type
Article
Medical Subject Headings
Pharmaceutical Preparations; Drug Utilization; Drug Costs; Managed Care Programs
Disciplines
Health Services Research | Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences | Primary Care
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To show how therapeutic interchange, one of the tools used to manage pharmaceutical utilization, can save money while ensuring high-quality care and patient and physician satisfaction.
DESIGN: Patients using nifedipine gastrointestinal system were switched to nifedipine core-coat product.
SETTING: A multispecialty group practice that employs more than 250 physicians in some 23 specialties, with responsibility for more than 200,000 patients as of November 1997.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of patients able to switch successfully and the savings in costs.
CONCLUSIONS: Managed care organizations can use utilization management tools successfully to assure quality care at lower costs. In the long term, this switch benefited both patients and plan.
KEYWORDS: Therapeutic interchange, Nifedipine (GITS), Nifedipine core-coat
Comments
Citation: Fish LS, Edelman-Lewis B. The Impact of a Therapeutic Switching Program in a Managed Care Organization. J Managed Care Pharm 1999;5(5):438-441.