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AAFP helps tackle medication access problem

Ensuring that low-income patients get the prescription drugs they need is a concern for many family physicians.

Now, a collaboration with Volunteers in Health Care -- a resource center funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- will allow AAFP members to tap into VIH's extensive resources on pharmaceutical assistance programs. PAPs generally provide medications at no cost to patients with low incomes and no prescription coverage.

A pilot program at three family practices -- in New Mexico, Texas and Maine -- is now under way. VIH is visiting the practices to help staff members develop and improve systems to access medications through the myriad PAPs offered by pharmaceutical companies. The three practices were selected from those of members of the AAFP Committee on Special Constituencies.

The results of the program will be released at the January meeting of the AAFP committee, when committee members will discuss how to best disperse the findings from the practice visits to all AAFP members.

Of course, members already have access to tools to tackle medication access problems. These tools include:

• the RxAssist Web site (http://www.rxassist.org), which provides information on medications available through pharmaceutical companies' PAPs and other sources of assistance;
• RxAssist Plus, patient and medication tracking software designed to facilitate the process of applying to PAPs;
• from the AAFP, a Family Practice Management article on helping low-income patients access medications at http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20021100/51howt.html and information from the Committee on Special Constituencies on caring for the uninsured at http://www.aafp.org/x14230.xml; and
• resources that include manuals and tip sheets on pharmaceutical access at http://www.volunteersinhealthcare.org.

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FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2003 by American Academy of Family Physicians.

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