How does the physician come out a winner here? We all like those $4.00 medications offered by retailers, and there’s a link on this blog that goes directly to the listings for anyone to read. Patients access this information too. The sad thing about this entire story is the fact that the physician is going the extra mile to help patients, but in the long run the performance of how the physician prescribes is being jolted. 
The insurance companies rank the pay for performance on the amount of generic prescriptions, but when using one of the retailers offering the great deals, the insurance companies are not included on that data as it is a “cash” business of sorts…so how does an MD win and yet the insurers believe they can rank and provide incentives for physicians going the extra mile, what’s wrong with this picture? I would want to see this physician any day over one who is not making the effort, and besides this, it makes a difference on whether or not a patient will take their medication if it is not within what is considered affordable, thus when it comes to wellness, all efforts are down the drain if the patient does not take the medication prescribed for the treatment plan. Can’t the insurers come up with a better plan for the physicians so they don’t get penalized for helping their patients? Perhaps the new data base that is due to come out soon with everyone’s prescriptions listed may help the scenario, so at least the physicians will be able to see and counter back with the information to justify their pay for performance. BD
Wal-Mart's $4 generic drugs, as well as free antibiotics offered by a local pharmacy, help a lot of my patients. Whenever possible, I prescribe medicine available for $4 for patients who have a $10 copay for generics; for those on multiple meds, that $6 difference can really add up. And I send patients who have trouble paying for antibiotics to the pharmacy where they're free.
“To top it off, his new plan is big on pay for performance. So not only are his clinical indicators rotten, but all the work I'm doing to try to fix them will count against me. The local P4P programs grade and pay doctors partly based on our percentage of generic prescribing. But when patients take advantage of great deals on generics offered by giant retailers, the insurance companies are left out of the loop. Consequently, they're clueless as to the actual number of generic scripts I write. So my percentage of generic prescriptions, always very high, has dropped, according to the health plan, and my second-level prescribing has increased. That means I'm going to get dinged when it comes time to dole out P4P rewards.”
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