Merck-Medco: Salt Lake City Area Physicians to Get Generics First.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

SALT LAKE CITY--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 16, 2002

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators, Intermountain Health Care and Public Employees Health Plan are Partnering with Merck-Medco to Bring the Nation's First Generic Sampling and Education Program to Utah

In the first six months of 2001, the Generics First(SM) program has saved health plan sponsors and participants $3.5 million in 12 cities nationwide by offering generic alternatives to brand name prescription medications.

And now this successful program will be introduced on a major scale in the Salt Lake City area. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators (DMBA), Intermountain Health Care (IHC) and Public Employees Health Plan (PEHP) are teaming up with Merck-Medco, the nation's leading pharmacy benefits manager, to introduce more than 50 physicians in the Salt Lake City area to the program in January 2002.

Physicians selected for the program will be visited bi-monthly by a Merck-Medco clinical pharmacist. During the meetings the pharmacist, supported with educational material that incorporates nationally recognized prescribing guidelines, publications and clinical research, will discuss the benefits of clinically appropriate therapies with available generic medications. In addition, the physicians will have access to generic samples in four therapeutic categories -- NSAIDS, gastrointestinal, antihypertensives and antidepressants -- through a simple fax/mail order form operated by a third-party fulfillment house.

Generics First was launched in October 2000 with 1,700 physicians in 12 cities receiving one-on-one visits with the pharmacists, as well as access to the generic samples. In January 2001 an additional 6,000 physicians nationwide were added to Generics First through a direct mail program. Physicians receive bi-monthly mailings consisting of the generic drug sample form which includes options to order both generic drug samples as well as patient educational materials like the "Consumers Guide to Generic Drugs," created in partnership with the National Consumers League.

To date more than 600,000 generic drug samples representing more than 4.0 million days of medication therapy have been dispensed through the Generics First program. The direct mail component has garnered a 23 percent physician response rate.

In addition, based on the first six-months of data from 2001, the 1,700 physicians receiving the one-on-one meetings with the clinical pharmacists have increased their generic prescribing rate nearly 20 percent, or 22 percent more than a comparison group of like physicians. The analysis also showed that physicians who participated in generic therapy discussions with the clinical pharmacists and ordered generic drug samples had nearly double the generics prescribing impact as those who only participated in the clinical discussions. Moreover, greater than 86 percent of the 1,700 physicians have ordered generic samples, and the vast majority of these physicians continue to reorder.

"These results show that the right tools can improve the physician-patient dialogue about generic medications, resulting in the dispensing of safe, quality generic drugs at 30-to-60 percent cost saving over the brand name counterpart," said Dr. Robert Epstein, chief medical officer, Merck-Medco. "Generics First proves you can manage drug trend in a way that maintains or improves physician and patient satisfaction."

Translated into dollars, the change in dispensing patterns for these 1,700 physicians alone has yielded a $3.5 million drug savings to health plan sponsors and patients in the four targeted therapeutic categories. Moreover the savings reflect only prescription fulfillment of the generic medication during the first six months of 2001; not potential refills by the patient in future time periods.

DMBA administers benefits for employees of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its affiliated organizations, which includes more than 30 employers nationwide and membership in all 50 states. DMBA also administers welfare benefits in 72 countries and administers and/or monitors pension benefits in 40 countries.

Intermountain Health Care is a community-owned nonprofit health care organization based in Salt Lake City that serves the health needs of 2.4 million Utah and Idaho residents. The IHC system includes health insurance plans, and 22 hospitals, clinics and affiliated physicians.

Public Employees Health Program (PEHP) is a non-profit, self-funded trust managed by the Utah State Retirement Board. For over twenty years, PEHP has been providing benefits for employees of the State of Utah. In addition, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, and dozens of other public entities and school districts within Utah also offer benefits through PEHP. PEHP covers approximately 146,000 individuals under their medical plans, and 105,000 under their dental plans.

Merck-Medco is the leading provider of comprehensive, quality, affordable prescription drug care in the United States. An independently managed subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Merck-Medco serves the needs of more than 65 million, or nearly one-in-four Americans. Merck-Medco manages some 450 million prescriptions per year for its clients through its 13 home delivery and retail pharmacy networks. Merck-Medco's clients include major corporations, BlueCross BlueShield groups, insurance carriers, health maintenance organizations, government health plans and unions. More information on Merck-Medco is available at http://www.merckmedco.com.