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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, June 7, 2005

Project may ease medicine costs

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer

A new partnership between the state Health Department, big pharmaceutical companies and a number of professional medical organizations aims to bring cheap or free drugs to thousands of Hawai'i people who aren't now getting the help they need.

At a glance

To find out if you qualify for free or discounted medications:

• Call the Partnership for Prescription Assistance hot line at (888) 4PPA-NOW (888-477-2669)

• Or visit AlohaMeds.org

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance bundles more than 250 programs that have been in existence for years but are difficult to access into one central location. The national program was launched April 5, and 600,000 people already have contacted it, with two-thirds of them receiving help, officials said.

The new Hawai'i chapter is the 20th in the nation and hopes to launch a Web site and a national hot line today under AlohaMeds.org.

With a phone call to (888) 4PPA-NOW or an online dial-up, any patient can find out if they meet the criteria for more than 275 public and private programs for discounted or free medications.

"We urge anyone who is having trouble with their medications to call the center or look at the Web site," said Christian Clymer, director of Internet services for the Partnership and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the national trade association for drug manufacturers.

"There are a lot of people who need help paying for their medications and a lot of programs have been available, some for as long as 50 years, but they've all existed separately and haven't been easy to access.

"So what we're doing with the AlohaMeds chapter is bringing all these programs together in one place so people can find out what exists to help them. For instance, if you're on three medications and you're having trouble affording the bill, you can come to the Web site which will help you, at a minimum get a discount, and in some instances get your medicines for free."

It may especially help people like Lori Santos, a 47-year-old student at the University of Hawai'i who is struggling to get a degree while living on $980 a month in Medicare assistance because she is an epileptic. Although Medicare pays her drug premium, she's been paying $500 a month for epilepsy medications because she is over the income level for Medicaid help for low-income individuals. An extra insurance policy was helping out, but it ended in April and now she fears that without some new assistance she'll have to choose between her medicines or her home.

"I need these medications," said Santos. "But I can't afford to be homeless to get them. I can't afford to keep begging society for them."

For someone like Santos, the new partnership will provide an easy way to find out if there's other help available.

"There are programs for a lot of different kinds of people," said Clymer. "There are some for pregnant women, for children, for seniors, for the uninsured, the underinsured. A lot of categories of people will be able to get some help."

The large pharmaceutical companies have had dozens of patient assistance programs for decades, said Roger McKeague, special assistant to state health director Dr. Chiyome Fukino, but he agrees they've been difficult to find and use.

"They've been in existence, but all these different companies have different programs," he said. "What's been difficult is how do you locate the program you need and fill out the form and do what you need to do. What this Web site does is checks them all for you to see what's available.

"This is a program that can do that without costing us a fortune," said McKeague. "And it's sustainable. Anytime the industry can get involved we're happy to support that."

The partnership is training nurses in local doctor's offices, pharmacists at Longs, and others to know how to access the Web site for patients. But they say even those who aren't computer savvy can call the hot line and be helped through the procedure to find an appropriate assistance program.

Patients calling the hot line will be asked basic questions, including about income and the drugs they need. The hot line operator will pull the right forms — if a program is appropriate — help fill out some of them, and send them to the patient to be completed, said McKeague.

Then the patient must take the forms to their doctor for sign-off that the medications are being prescribed. That form is then sent to the company sponsoring the program and the medicines are shipped to the patient.

"Last year 22 million prescriptions worth $4.2 billion were distributed in free medications specifically through the patient assistance programs," said Clymer. "We understand there are some people out there having trouble affording their medicines. But there are programs so they don't have to go without. It's important that they continue to take their medicines if they're going to get better. A pill on a shelf doesn't do anybody any good."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.