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Major insurer pushes pill-splitting savings - Health Care - MSNBC.com

Major insurer pushes

pill-splitting savings

UnitedHealthcare encourages

patients to cut drugs in half

Randy Schneider uses a pill splitter to cut a Lipitor tablet in two in his

home June 5 in Kiel, Wis. Schneider saves about $31 for a six month supply

because double-strength pills don't cost much more than single-strength ones.

The Associated Press

Updated: 6:20 p.m. ET June 10, 2005

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Chopping his Lipitor tablets in half gives Randy Schneider

a little thrill.

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“I kind of chuckle when I do this,†said the 41-year-old line worker at a

cheese factory. “It’s like I’m making good money per minute if you figure

it

out.â€

Schneider saves about $31 for a six-month supply, because double-strength

pills don’t cost much more than single-strength ones. It takes him 10 minutes

to

cut the 90 pills in two, and he gets the same supply of cholesterol medicine

for less money.

Now, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, is getting

behind the practice, giving away pill-splitters and providing advice on which

drugs can be safely cut in half.

'Meaningful savings'

It is offering half-price on drugs for those who split double-strength pills,

cutting the patient’s insurance copayment in half as well.

“It has the potential for meaningful savings,†said Tim Heady, CEO of

UnitedHealth Pharmaceutical Solutions, a division of UnitedHealthcare, based in

Edina, Minn.

“For every patient that chooses to reduce their costs by 50 percent, it would

reduce ours and their employer’s cost by half of the cost of that

prescription as well,†he said. “The question is how many consumers would be

willing to

participate.â€

Seniors have split pills to cut costs with the help of their doctors and

pharmacists for years. But recently insurers have promoted it as studies have

shown it can save massive amounts on purchasing drugs — a key driver of

increased

premiums.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said in November it managed to save

$46.5 million a year by having 1.1 million patients split one cholesterol drug

alone — Zocor.

The Regence Group, a health insurer operating in Oregon, Washington, Idaho

and Utah, saves $5 million a year through pill-splitting, which it began

promoting 18 months ago.

Containing costs

The practice helps contain costs as newer, more expensive drugs replace

older, cheaper ones, and as people take more and more medicine, said Regence’s

vice

president of pharmacy services, .

“With all those pressures (that tend) to increase pharmaceutical costs, this

is one of the elements that reduces those pressures,†said.

UnitedHealthcare began its voluntary program across Wisconsin on June 1,

sending out letters to 10,500 patients to promote it. The insurer plans to take

it

nationwide for 12.5 million drug benefit subscribers before year’s end, Heady

said.

Among the 15 pills the insurer recommends splitting are expensive cholesterol

drugs such as Lipitor, antidepressants such as Zoloft, and blood pressure

pills such as Aceon and Diovan.

Those pills can be split easily without any adverse effects, Heady said.

“Say one day you get 30 percent of the tablet and the next day you get 70

percent,†he said. “What we’ve been able to determine is that doesn’t

really

have an impact on efficacy or safety.â€

Pharmaceuticals balk at practice

But Pfizer Inc., the maker of Lipitor and Zoloft, disputes that finding.

Splitting a pill and leaving it in a steamy bathroom, for example, could change

the nature of the drug, said the company’s Dr. Mark Horn. It amounts to an “

unlabeled use of our medicines†that has not been rigorously tested, Horn

said.

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“An experiment is being conducted on the people who are being encouraged to

pill-split.â€

The Federal Drug Administration does not regulate pill-splitting, but says

there are risks such as forgetting to split pills, slicing time-release pills or

unevenly breaking ones for which a precise daily dosage is needed.

It is crucial to have the consent of a doctor, said Tom McGinnis, FDA’s

director of pharmacy affairs. Doctors can judge whether a patient is capable of

splitting pills, or whether they are likely to forego taking their medicine if

they feel it’s too expensive.

“The important thing is for patients to get a dose of their medication, and

if it’s the only way they can afford to be on a statin (cholesterol-reducing)

drug, I think a doctor would think that was reasonable,†McGinnis said.

High costs putting patients at risk

Studies have shown that the high cost of prescription drugs has put patients

at risk.

The nonprofit research group, Center for Studying Health System Change, said

last month that more than 18 percent of U.S. adults did not fill at least one

of their prescriptions in 2003 because of the cost.

The center’s president, Ginsburg, said pill-splitting was unorthodox but

effective in increasing access to care.

“It may be the difference between being able to take the drug and not being

able to,†he said.

For factory worker Schneider, splitting his pills at the suggestion of his

pharmacist is not a life-or-death decision, since his cholesterol is back to

normal. But for a father of three with a mortgage on a new house, every penny

counts.

“Most people, it probably doesn’t faze them to just go ahead and pay for it,

but I’ll take whatever route is necessary to keep costs down,†he said.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be

published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Guest guest]

My PCP has always been an advocate of pill-splitting, and prescribes

accordingly.

Sue

On Sunday, June 12, 2005, at 01:59 AM, aclavern33@... wrote:

> Major insurer pushes pill-splitting savings - Health Care - MSNBC.com

[Guest guest]

My PCP has always been an advocate of pill-splitting, and prescribes

accordingly.

Sue

On Sunday, June 12, 2005, at 01:59 AM, aclavern33@... wrote:

> Major insurer pushes pill-splitting savings - Health Care - MSNBC.com