How Easily Can Seniors Access Medicare Preferred Pharmacies?
By - Regardless of whether older Americans live in small towns or rural areas, the majority of them are still able to find access to preferred pharmacies in Medicare, according to a recent survey.
Specifically, 9 in 10 seniors from urban, suburban, small town and rural areas have convenient access to preferred pharmacies in Medicare Part D. Additionally, 88 percent of surveyed seniors said that they were satisfied with their preferred pharmacy prescription drug plans, according to a study conducted by Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA).
“This poll explains why seniors from all parts of the country rose up against this year’s proposed Part D rule — they like their low cost plans and don’t want Washington to disrupt them,” PCMA President and CEO Mark Merritt said in a statement. “The findings also confirm the wisdom of Ms. Tavenner’s recent assurance to reject other regulations that undermine preferred networks in Part D.”
For the survey, Hart Research interviewed 453 Medicare beneficiaries who were enrolled in a Medicare Part D Preferred Pharmacy Network plan. Results showed that having preferred pharmacies in a convenient network and having necessary prescription meds available through the plan were the top reasons that rural seniors were satisfied. Moreover, four in five of those respondents said they would be “disappointed” if their plan was eliminated, while two-thirds said they would be very “disappointed.”
Higher costs was the most frequently cited reason why those surveyed said they would be disappointed should their plan be eliminated.
“I would have to figure out something else; it takes a lot of time and it’s not an easy thing to do, to get that information,” said one respondent, according to the survey.
Another respondent said, “I feel like I worked all my life to get that [plan].”
The survey found that cost is the top factor when selecting a preferred pharmacy plan. That is regardless of income, age, number of medications an individual is currently taking, distance from the pharmacy and type of community an individual lives in.
For small town seniors specifically, having their prescription meds available through their chosen plan was the top reason that they were “very satisfied” – 73 percent of respondents. Having preferred pharmacies in a convenient network and the number of preferred pharmacies available in a network were the number two and three reasons they were “very satisfied.”
In February of this year, CMS unveiled the Frontier Community Health Integration Project, which is aimed at improving healthcare in the most sparsely populated rural areas in the US. With the initiative, critical access hospitals (CAHs) will receive CMS support in expanding care access and quality for Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally, the models are expected to lower Medicare expenditures, limit patient transfers to larger facilities, increase services and improve patient satisfaction.
