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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Deborah Delay, LCSW¹, Bruce Cooper, MD, MSPH², Carol Plock, MSW³, John F. Newman, MSBA³, and Ann E. Martin, BA¹. (1) Prescription Assistance, Health District of Northern Larimer County, 120 Bristlecone Drive, Fort Collins, CO, CO 80524, 970-224-5209, ddelay@healthdistrict.org, (2) Assessment, Research and Program Evaluation, Health District of Northern Larimer County, 120 Bristlecone Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80524, (3) Health District of Northern Larimer County, 120 Bristlecone Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80524

Annual increases in prescription drug spending in the US have raised concerns about the affordability and availability of prescription drugs for individuals who have low-incomes, are uninsured and/or are underinsured. In an attempt to address the issue of providing relief to persons in need of prescription drug assistance, many states and local communities are contemplating the development of pharmacy discount programs or direct-benefit programs. The experiences of an established program can provide valuable insight when other agencies are weighing critical choices in program design and development. An established local community program exists at the Health District of Northern Larimer County. The Health District's prescription assistance program was designed, implemented, and evaluated as an effective prescription assistance program beginning in 1996.

Since 1996, the Health District's Prescription Assistance Program has been helping the uninsured and underinsured residents of the District access medications through a combination of pharmacy vouchers and manufacturers assistance programs. In 2005, the program served approximately 1646 unduplicated clients by providing $293,000 in cash vouchers and $2.5 million in medications through applications to approximately 157 manufacturing prescription assistance programs.

This session will provide an overview of an established prescription assistance program design, eligibility criteria, demographics of the population served, administrative structure, start-up and implementation of the program, benefit structure, consumer cost-sharing, challenges, evaluation process, results and future.

Learning Objectives:

• •Recognize the value and utilization of a direct-benefit prescription assistance program as a partial solution to the problem of prescription drug affordability for the uninsured and underinsured population in their community
• •Review an established outcome based prescription assistance program design including design decisions and how they were arrived at, start-up and implementation issues, and eight years of program evaluation data
• •Consider establishing a similar program design approach for their own community

Keywords: Community Programs, Planning

Related Web page: www.healthdistrict.org/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered