Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121181

Deborah Hudson, MPH, Jewel S. Goodman, MPA, Angela Futrell, RN, and Edwina Gary, MS. Pharmacy Care of Hampton Roads, Peninsula Institute for Community Health, 1033 28th Street, Second Floor, Newport News, VA 23607, 757-952-0170, dhudson@pich.org

Background and Purpose: Nationwide, spending on prescription medications continues to rise as does the number of un- and under-uninsured-- increasing the access burden to healthcare. In an urban city in Virginia, 33% (58,987) of the residents are two times below the established poverty level, and approximately 16,000 of those residents are also uninsured. In an effort to increase access to prescribed medications to low-income and uninsured patients who have applied for pharmaceutical assistance programs but await a decision, the central-fill pharmacy was established by the Access Partnership and the Peninsula Institute for Community Health (PICH). The purpose is to capture patient perceptions of the services provided by the Pharmacy Care of Hampton Roads (PCHR).

Methods: Patients having prescriptions filled by PCHR between March - May 2005 were telephoned by 3 administrators, final sample was 85 participants. All patients (N=85) received at least one phonecall attempt. The tool asked if since being enrolled in PCHR, had the patient experienced any delay in receiving medications and satisfaction of services received.

Results: Of the eighty-five (85) patients surveyed, approximately 39% (38.82%, N=33) reported that they had not experienced any delay in securing affordable medication after having enrolled in the PCHR and were satisfied with the services they had received from PCHR.

Discussion: PICH strives to maximize care, eliminate health disparities, and increase access to care for the un- and under-insured. A survey tool to capture pharmacy patient perceptions of access, knowledge / understanding, cost-savings, and self-perceived health status has resulted from this study.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to develop survey tools that capture pharmacy patient perceptions of satisfaction with pharmacy services
• Participants will be to assess the increased prescription drug cost impact on access to overall healthcare for un- and under-insured patients .
• Participants will be able to discuss the benefits stop-gap prescription medication programs for low-income and un- and under-insured patients.

Keywords: Access, Community-Based Partnership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.