PATIENT SAFETY, TECHNOLOGY AND THE PROFESSIONAL INTERFACE

                                                                 Tom Curb, R.Ph.

(A recent survey by researchers from Harvard University found that prescription-drug problems are widespread…that chances of trouble are higher if you take more drugs… that patients’ main physician failed to review and discuss all the medications they were taking… AND to prevent problems, (the surveyors) recommended drug reviews that include checks for interactions, drug duplications, or signs of side effects.)*

What does this mean for US plans and consumers faced with staggering, ever-increasing drug costs – especially the tens of millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans searching for affordable sources for their medications? Obviously, it means that unless their "alternative" sources incorporate sophisticated, real-time technological aids reinforced with professional oversight and/or review, many patients are likely to suffer a great deal of harm.

One of the great myths of retail pharmacy is the assumption that patients get all of their prescriptions at the same store. In fact, this is a rarity, and without "universal" availability of a comprehensive and complete common denominator - a central medication profile that enables these recommended real-time safety "checks" - accompanied by instant pharmacist messaging, an adverse and possibly catastrophic drug-created problem is only a matter of time.

Because of its penchant for patient safety, from inception SPC has dedicated itself to make certain that central profiling and professional interaction are fundamental elements of all its benefits programs. Naturally, this meant that traditional US mail order pharmacies would be excluded from the network provider equation. They just could not meet SPC’s rigid safety standards, and/or they did not offer plans and members across-the-board competitive pricing.

…Enter today’s burgeoning supply of highly-visible "out-of-network sources" encouraging direct prescription importation - Internet sites, web-based US affiliates, "drug clubs", and franchised on-site, non-professional "Rx storefronts"… What to do, what to do? First, SPC had to acknowledge that some drugs can be obtained much cheaper from international sources; second, SPC had to accept that US consumers will prevail over all obstacles to access these economical sources, and finally, to satisfy its obsession for patient-safety, SPC had to accommodate this new element of the healthcare environment – the answer was Expedite-Rx.

SPC absolutely believes that US consumers will win the prescription import battle – and the war - in spite of today’s bureaucratic interference; de facto bribery by multinational drug manufacturers; and outcry from short-sighted US businesses.** (Invariably, US consumers have prevailed against illegitimate protectionist measures.) Therefore, to protect benefit plans and their members, SPC made access to Expedite-Rx’s benefit-coordinating interface a no-cost option to all of its Sponsor groups - including funded benefits, discount card plans, and retail pharmacy-sponsored programs that incorporate a "professional interface" element.

In achieving its patient-protective objectives, SPC has made sure that all accessing the Expedite-Rx interface "win". Members (patients) more safely obtain their immediate, direct savings and/or indirect savings from economies evolving to their benefit plans; SPC’s employer-funded and retiree-funded healthcare plans are enabled to more safely provide consistent or enhanced benefit levels in the face of escalating health care costs; local US economies receive a welcome influx of citizen capital; and SPC’s US network pharmacy providers gain prescription business.

* Scott Hensley, Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2003