We kind of have a similar situation here in the US, but ours is done through Pharmacy Benefit Managers and the hitch here too is compliance with tracking who is refilling their prescriptions, so whoever is inquiring knows that at least the prescriptions are being filled, now whether or not they are actually taken is another story but common sense will usually tell you if a patient is refilling, more than likely they will be taking their medications, but with recent political battles and the desire for additional data, there could be some motivation for “playing the game” here too.
But alas, there’s fix for that coming too, or at least Novartis thinks this is the answer to really tell if you took that pill. This somewhat reminds me of the futuristic 
movie made years ago called “Fantastic Voyage” where you traveled through the body, so in this case we get the pill version of that Sci-Fi movie of years past.
Novartis Invests 24 Million with Proteus – Chip On A Pill Also Known as IMeds as Discussed at TEDMED
Some have voiced concerns though that this marketing may hurt the generic market. Here in the US if you don’t want to be tracked and a generic is available, just pay cash for the $4.00 pill and don’t use any discount cards, so in essence we have something of a system set up. If you are in an HMO your poor doctor though will get the brunt of this if you don’t use a pharmacy benefit manager that tracks the refills. Ask almost any PCP physician in in HMO, they get blasted all the time on compliance here, but they have a good excuse too, as they don’t live with us and we still have choices, but it effects their bonus money on pay for performance in the compliance area. Pay for performance in this area of tracking has some outdated systems since the pharmacy benefit managers are not our only choice.
When Pay for Performance and $4.00 Generic Prescriptions Hit the Wall
We almost have to support this system, right? What would happen if the billion dollar profits at the pharmacy benefit management companies started to dwindle, cheaper drugs maybe?
Medco Health Solutions $14.8 Billion 3rd Quarter Profit – Automation Is Part of Their Solution
All of this discounting reminds me of what I did for a living in a prior life in logistics and how that business started years ago with a small 10% discount. When I left the industry 8 years ago, those discounts were up to 70%. The key here though is that there were regular rate increases so the base kept going up except for those big companies who had big bargaining power, they created contracts where they used base rates that were several years old, but the little guy would pay through the nose over and over. I wonder now if they logistics discounts are getting close to 100%? (grin). Everyone used to complain furiously though as they would have much rather had a simpler chart that shows the rate already calculated without discounts, all of this just makes for extensive additional bookkeeping and auditing, and to nobody’s surprise, you need to hire folks to come in and sort this out for you…..hmmmmm…sounds exactly like what is happening in so many areas of healthcare today too. No doubt without all the fancy marketing complications, everyone in many areas of business could stand to save money if we could just cut to the chase…phenomenal idea and perhaps some really forward thinking? It’s amazing what we pay for the complicated algorithmic formulas devised today to conduct business. BD
Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical group, is launching a system of electronic payment for medicines that links it directly with patients in many of the world's fastest-growing economies.
The company is this month launching its eCard program in Russia with the aim of reaching 500,000 patients in the next year, and is gearing up for similar rapid expansion in Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela.
The move could help boost use of high-priced drugs by providing discounts to the majority of patients in emerging countries who have to pay for their own medicines, while raising concerns about direct access to personal medical information by a pharmaceutical company.
It will also allow the company to monitor when patients are not returning for regular repeat prescriptions for their medicines for long-term chronic conditions, allowing it to contact patients to remind them to take their drugs - and further boost sales.
FT.com / UK - Pfizer launches drugs e-payment system
Hat Tip: Pharmagossip
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