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Drug Assistance Programs And Patient’s Responsibilities On Drugs

Author: Nikhil Gupta

Introduction

Many patients have been shielded from the provision of prescribed drugs due to their low income so as to cover this gal drug assistance programs have been developed which are usually sponsored by pharmaceutical manufacturers. These are also state programs or non-profit sponsered programs. They provide free or low-cost medications but major drawback is difficulty in accessing and understanding these programs by majority of population. The fulfillment of eligibility criteria for this process may considered confusing and tedious. After taking the drugs there must be improved communication between patient and healthcare professionals about the medication errors . Confidence level must be built between both of them so that the patient can reply even a minor side effect with proper conductance of follow-up.

Drug assistance programs:

The provision of medical care for uninsured population is a growing concern. It is an important social issue as quite a large number of uninsured population includes children and elderly patients. Out-of-pocket expenditure of medications for patients can be proven prohibitive and burdensome. Approximately one out of four patients face difficulty while affording the cost of their prescribed medications which has led to decreased utilization of medication and adherence across major variety of clinical areas such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer. In order to help out the patients with this problem, healthcare providers such as prescribers, pharmacists often look towards drug assistance program also known as medication or patient assistance program (PAP), charitable drug program or indigent drug program mainly for psychotropic drugs so that patient can have access and take their medications as per the prescriptions. It majorly impact the quality of life. Under this program low income patients can have access to certain brand-new prescription drug. Let’s have an example of a patient which had to pay $1000 for his treatment whereas he was having barely $400 in his bank account. This is out of pocket expenditure and to get the care he requires was provided by these programs in order to safegaurd the patient from further critical circumstances.

Financial assistance to low-income patients in india:

Majorly three schemes have been invovled in it

1. Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi(RAN)

2. Health Ministers Discretionary Grants (HMDG)

3. Health Ministers Cancer Patient Fund

Huge grants have been provided through these schemes to patients who lie below poverty line and are suffering from major life-threatening diseases to get their treatment done at super specialty hospitals – government hospitals or institutions such as Post graduate institute of medical education and research (PGIMER), Chandigarh  Jawaharlal institute of postgraduate medical education and research (JIPMER), Puducherry  All india institute of medical services (AIMS), New Delhi or Lady harding medical college (LHMC), National institute of medical health and neuroscience (NIMHANX).

Mainly these programs make the patient healthier or reduce the frequency of visiting hospitals for unwanted or undesirable outcomes through the progression of diseases or vulnerable condition of patients.

Pfizer has recently launched PAP India for Indian patients. It offers eligible patient therapy assistance on the basis of valid prescriptions by the physician along with submission of other documents of the patient as per the requirement. This program is enecuted by TATA 1 MG on behalf of Pfizer India. Patients are heart of health care system and to improve the access of medication to the patient is their ultimate goal. Thousands of patients have enrolled in this program through an online application on the basis of confirmation of medical eligibility and verification of required documents. Easy delivery and faster access to innovative therapy has been the integral motive of Pfizer PAP india program.

Some key features of the app include-

-It offers an easy process to upload documents for verification.

– Quick selection of PAP scheme options.

– Hassle-free documentation with easy fast -track enrolment.

– High-security provision of documents

Role of clinical pharmacist in submission of PAP, interpretation of prescriptions, dispensing the medication and appropriate patient education is essential. There will be no benefit of PAP if patient education is not properly executed as improper patient education regarding the treatment may lead to medication errors and negative affect on health of patient. They basically serve as liasion between patient, heath care professionals and the program. Various pharmacy technicians, social workers or other support staff working under supervision of pharmacist is a very effective process and a less costly choice for administration of program. If involvement of pharmacists in medical clinic is not a viable option then accountability of the time and resources needed to educate non pharmacy personnel on methods to ensure the provision of medication safety is essential.

Major concerned issues in PAP program

1) The format of PAP is simple and in universal format still some reports have suggested that patients will face difficulties in completing the application on their own as their is need of accurate interpretation of prescription such as drug name, strength, quantity, duration etc .

2) The eligibility criteria for requirement of PAP submission changes along with the list of drugs available in PAP’s which make it difficult for indigent patients to remain updated with it.

3) Certain underserved patients may face problem in submission of application due to limited health literacy rate.

4) Patients suffering from deteriorating health status prevents them from completing the application without assistance of professional healthcare individuals.

5) The operational cost for high need of PAP’s is a major issue of concern.

Patient responsibility towards drugs:

After the diagnosis and treatment doctor prescribes the medication and the patient is supposed to take it as per the prescription but the duty doesn’t end here. Patient need to take these drugs responsibly in order to prevent oneself from any harm.

Every drug intake have it’s own side effects, varying with individual. Some might be mild enough to be neglected and some might be severe enough which require immediate doctor consultation. But people don’t understand that reporting undesirable and unknown side effects needs to be reported to the concerned doctor immediately. Taking an example here of a 77year old women who was prescribed antibiotics after her dental treatment suffered diarrhoea after she followed the proper regime. She didn’t report the situation until the situation got out of hand when she suffered severe dehydration and weakness. This further lead to other systemic problems. If she would have reported drug’s side effects sooner, the doctor would have simply changed the medication and all these unnecessary health issues would have been avoided. It is patient’s duty to consult the doctor if such undesirable situation arises even if the symptoms are small.

People also tend to use drugs on their own without any doctors supervision. A lay man is not aware of the proper regime of drugs and take them according to their will and this lead to either overuse, underuse and misuse of drugs. Such irrational use of drugs causes wastage of scarce resources and widespread health hazards.  A common man cannot differentiate between a viral disease, a fungal disease or a bacterial disease. The most common drug that people in india prefer is antibiotics but they are unaware of which diseases is benefited and which are not. It is patients responsibility to take the appropriate medicine and following their proper regime to avoid undesirable effects or withdrawal symptoms.

Drug misuse:

Today people tend to take unprescribed drugs for their euphoria. Such misuse of drugs is due to the irresponsible behavior of the population. They forget the actual purpose of drugs and use them injudiciously. This is one of the major problems in world. People have no knowledge of their responsibility in using drugs. Misuse of medicinal drugs is on a large scale. This will not stop until we take the problem in our own hands. People need to know use of drugs for recreational purposes pose threat not only to one’s ownself but to others too my depleting the resources.

Conclusion:

In this era of high-deductible insurance plans drug assistance programs are considered to be very helpful. Health care systems have developed so far to develop organized programs in order to connect needy patients with PAPs for reduction of financial burden on patients. It further reduces bad debts. This program also arrises a new opportunity of job category known as medication access specialists who help the patients regarding any query about the program and filling of documentation work for proper administration. Overpaying for a drug is hence reduced which concludes that this program is of high importance in ensuring the adequate access of drugs to patients with major health issues and this provision must not lead to misuse of drugs and patience must be responsible while taking the prescribed drugs even minor unusual symptoms must be reported to the health care professionals and self-administration of drugs must be prohibited in order to enhance the quality of healthcare.