Study: Costs get in way of cancer patients refilling their prescriptions

CQ HealthBeat: Cost Inhibits Cancer Patients From Filling Prescriptions, Study Says
About 10 percent of cancer patients aren't taking the oral medicines they need either because of the cost or they feel they are already taking too many other drugs, according to a study released by health-care consulting company Avalere Health late Wednesday. The study, published jointly in the Journal of Oncology Practice and the American Journal of Managed Care, looks at the relatively new practice of giving cancer patients drugs orally instead of just intravenous treatment, which has been the norm.The research was based on an analysis Avalere Health conducted using pharmacy-transaction data from 2007 to 2009. About 25 percent to 35 percent of cancer medicines are now taken orally (5/18).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.