University of South Florida To Conduct Study on Language Barriers as Part of Pfizer’s Medicaid Disease Management Program

Officials from the University of South Florida and drug maker Pfizer Inc. on June 24 announced a new study that will examine how to eliminate language barriers for patients who speak little or no English, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Such barriers often result in medical errors, such as taking the wrong dosage of medications, and can cost up to $73 billion annually, according to Pfizer. The Florida Health Literacy Study, a two-year, $3.1 million project, is part of Pfizer's initiative to improve its disease education and management programs for chronically ill Florida Medicaid beneficiaries (Cridlin, St. Petersburg Times, 6/25). Pfizer began the initiative, called Florida: A Healthy State, last June when the it reached an agreement with state officials to include the company's drugs on the state's Medicaid formulary without the drug company having to offer the state additional price rebates. Under the two-year deal, Pfizer agreed to provide disease management services to certain chronically ill Medicaid beneficiaries and promised to save the state $15 million in Medicaid costs during the first year and $18 million during the second year. If the company does not save the state a combined $33 million over the next two years, it has agreed to pay the state the difference in cash (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/25).

Study Details
Pfizer will pay USF $1.6 million to conduct the study, which will focus on Medicaid beneficiaries between ages 18 and 64 who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or hypertension. Twenty-eight community health centers throughout the state will provide group classes and visual aids to eligible patients, the Times reports. Pfizer will pay an additional $1.5 million to the state Agency for Health Care Administration. Barbara DeBuono, Pfizer's senior medical director, said, "Given what we learn [in the study], we may be able to roll this out elsewhere in the country besides just Florida. But this is the place where we're testing, this is the place where we start" (St. Petersburg Times, 6/25).