More than 4 billion prescriptions are written in the U.S. annually. A rough estimate translates to 15 million scripts every business day. Not all of them happen during a doctor visit, but we’re still talking a huge number that do.
This process, repeated millions of times each day, is one of the more critical to the cost of healthcare: Doctor prescribes a drug, patient says “OK, thank you,” and the script is called in to the patient’s local pharmacy or taken in by hand.
If the patient could just raise that hand and ask the doctor about potential alternatives, what might it do to annual prescription drug spending? Even a $5 savings opportunity could save the healthcare system $75 million every business day.
Whoa.
Why isn’t this happening during every appointment? Aside from a few extraordinarily savvy consumers out there, it doesn’t. Because who in the world has the necessary information to discuss with their doctor at the moment of truth?
Rx Savings Solutions members do.
Our mobile app is a friend every member should take with them to every doctor visit. Instead of checking email, stock quotes or Snapchat, a member can search for whatever drug they’re prescribed and check for lower-cost but therapeutically equivalent options—all within their current benefit plan.
“Doctor, I see here that there’s a $60 alternative to $160 Tamiflu¨. Will that work for me?” In most cases, the answer will be “yes.”
Most doctors aren’t pharmacy experts. They’re simply not equipped to know all the options for every drug they prescribe. Certainly not all 20,000 clinical suggestions (and counting) available in our app, many of which result in more than a $100 savings per fill.
That’s a pretty good reason to ignore those signs saying “No Cell Phone Usage” in the exam rooms. Especially at the moment of truth.
(Members can view their account from their phone to see savings suggestions like this—saving the member $29.98 per fill by taking the generic version of their medication.)
