Lawmakers, Advocates Say ‘Patient Education’ Letters from Drug Companies Drive Up Health Costs
Letters sent from pharmacies reminding patients to refill a prescription or advising them to switch to another medication could "undermine patient care," increase treatment costs and violate privacy, according to some critics, the Washington Post reports. Such "patient education" letters, typically sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, are common among chain pharmacies, Crystal Wright, a spokesperson for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, said. Critics of the letters, including Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who in May filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, say that the letters are "marketing campaigns disguised as patient education campaigns." In his complaint, Schumer said, "Given the fact that the new-generation medications being touted in these letters are almost always far more expensive than the original forms of the drug, I am concerned that the letters are being used to further the pharmaceutical industry's profits and not patient care." But, Wright defended the programs, saying, "Patient compliance programs are treatment programs that save lives, not marketing programs. Drug companies pay for the programs so that patients won't have to."
At the Cost of Privacy?
Critics also have expressed concern that the letters could infringe upon patients' privacy, the Post reports. Under a Bush administration proposal to revise medical privacy regulations, set to take effect in April 2003, HHS will not require pharmacies to obtain patients' permission before mailing letters to them, the Post reports. Jeffrey Krinsk, a San Diego, Calif., attorney who has filed several lawsuits for clients regarding pharmacy letters, said that under the regulations, letters containing information about treatments for conditions that patients "might prefer to be kept private" -- such herpes, AIDS or cancer treatment -- could "wind up, opened, on a secretary's desk or in a neighbor's mailbox." Krinsk adds, "These letters are a total violation of a patient's privacy." Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is drafting legislation that would require pharmacies to ask patients when they first fill a prescription whether they want to receive patient education letters (Kritz, Washington Post, 6/11).
