Aetna To Launch Generic Rx Program With ‘ATM-Style’ Machines in Physician Offices
Aetna this week plans to launch a pilot program in which the company will place "ATM-style" machines that dispense samples of generic medications in physician offices in Philadelphia, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the Journal, Aetna to date has tested the machines in eight different regions, but the new program "will be the broadest and the most rigorously analyzed for its effects on prescribing patterns," the Journal reports. California-based MedVantx will supply and stock the machines, which in most cases dispense 30-day supplies of medications. The machines, which require physicians to input a security code, will include samples of as many as 20 generic medications for conditions such as diabetes, depression and high blood pressure. Under the program, Aetna and MedVantx will encourage physicians to dispense generic medications to all patients, regardless of their health plan. However, neither Aetna nor MedVantx will provide physicians with financial incentives to participate in the program. Jeff Taylor, director of pharmacy for Aetna, said that the program will reduce costs for patients. Generic medications account for about half of prescriptions for Aetna members, and Taylor said that an increase in the rate as small as a few percentage points would benefit the company.
'Counterweight' to Brand-Name Rx Samples
According to the Journal, the machines "aim to provide a counterweight" to samples of brand-name medications distributed to physicians by sales representatives, who in 2004 supplied physicians with more than one billion samples valued at almost $16 billion. Physicians "like drug samples because they help get sick patients started" on medications and "boost the likelihood they will see it through," as well as provide "an opportunity to test drive a drug for a particular patient before the prescription is filled and paid for," the Journal reports (Hensley, Wall Street Journal, 10/12).
