Medtipster Study: Generic Education Lowers Pharmacy Costs

Oct. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- New evidence gives further weight to the belief that, with education on generic drugs low cost pharmacy options, employees will change behavior, yielding cost savings for employers.

For example, Medtipster.com found in their recent 2010 Generic Drugs MedRx Report that employers are avoiding shifting costs to their employees by enhancing education around generic drugs.

By sharing information around cost-saving measures in generic drugs utilization, Medtipster.com saw their average clients generic drugs dispensing rate (GDR) increase to 80.4% (from 74.3% in 2008), despite a lack of significant generic drug introductions in 2009.

Apparently this education has paid off as plan sponsors made few changes to member contribution levels last year. "Member contributions actually declined from 19% in 2008 to 15.7% in 2009", said Medtipster.com president, Jason A. Klein.

Instead, employers have taken proactive steps by targeting specific pharmacies offering generic drugs at the lowest prices through Medtipster's Generic Optimization (GO) product, which can push GDR dramatically, finds Medtipster.com.

The proportion of adults who chose generic drugs over brand name drugs also increased from 68% in 2008 to 81% in 2009. Further, consumers have, and will continue to have, more opportunity to choose generic drugs in the future.

This marks good news for employers who are determinedly seeking proactive measures to transform employees into consumers by using generic drugs over brand name drugs. Continued education around the financial benefits and safety of generic drugs will only further allow employers to lower costs, thereby saving them and their workers capital.

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About Medtipster

Medtipster (www.medtipster.com) was developed to provide the public with a solution to the rising cost of healthcare. Using Medtipster's proprietary technology, consumers simply type in their drug name, dosage and zip code, and instantly find prescription drugs available on discount generic programs, and where they can find them right in their own neighborhoods. Many of these drugs are available for $4 or less. Prescription drugs that are not on a discounted generic program often have therapeutic alternatives that are. The vast majority of all medical conditions can be treated with drugs available on one of the discount generic drug programs available on Medtipster. Headquartered in Troy, Mich., Medtipster is the brainchild of five Michigan executives, who combined their collective experience of 100 years in the pharmaceutical industry to provide Americans with substantial savings on their prescription drug and healthcare expenses.