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Private Sector Effort Helped 600,000 Find Help with
Drug Costs
Group pledges to boost awareness with multi-million
dollar campaign
July 26, 2005 - The Partnership for Prescription
Assistance (PPA), the largest private-sector effort to assist patients
who need help paying for prescription medicines, today issued a
landmark report on its progress. According to the report, "Helping One
Patient at a Time," the effort is highly successful in directing new
patients to prescription assistance programs -- helping more than
600,000 patients in just 100 days. The report also noted that millions
more may be missing out on benefits because they are either unaware of
or do not think they are eligible for prescription assistance programs.
The groups behind the PPA include the largest and
most influential in health care. Among the 1,200 local and national
member organizations are the American Academy of Family Physicians,
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, American Cancer
Society, United Way and the NAACP -- all staunch advocates of increasing
access to medicines for people in need.
"I use the PPA to reduce my prescription costs from
over $1,000 per month to just under $90," said Kendall DePascal of San
Diego, Calif. "This program has been a wonderful experience and is easy
to use."
The PPA offers a single point of access to
information about more than 475 public and private patient assistance
programs, including Medicare. The more than 600,000 patients
successfully matched to programs through the PPA join the millions of
patients who have contacted individual company programs directly.
"We are proud of what the Partnership for
Prescription Assistance has accomplished in its first 100 days," said
Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). "But our job isn't done, and we can do
better. We have set our sights on reaching every person who needs help."
To publicize the program and increase awareness,
the PhRMA Board of Directors recently voted to spend tens of millions of
additional dollars over the next year.
A recent survey revealed that more than half of all
Americans are unaware of pharmaceutical company programs to provide free
or nearly free prescription drugs to patients in need. Moreover, more
than 90% of those contacting the PPA have never before enrolled in a
patient assistance program, despite the fact that they may have
qualified for assistance for quite some time.
"I know from my own practice that most patients
either don't know about prescription assistance programs or don't
realize they qualify," said Dr. Mary E. Frank, President of the American
Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). "That's why this effort is so
critical and why we need to raise awareness."
The PPA reaches thousands of seniors every day who
qualify for the new Medicare drug benefit and said it would now enhance
its focus on this audience because seniors stand to benefit greatly from
the new Medicare prescription drug program.
Patients can access the PPA through the toll-free
number (1-888-4PPA-NOW) or by visiting the user-friendly Web site (http://www.pparx.org/).
More than 1,200 national, state and local organizations, including the
American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Physician
Assistants, American College of Emergency Physicians, the American
Cancer Society, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, NAACP,
National Medical Association, National Urban League and United Way of
America are working with America's pharmaceutical companies to reach
patients who need help paying for their prescription medicines.
Source: Partnership for Prescription Assistance
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