Something's missing these days from the offices of doctors affiliated with St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center.
Free samples of various prescription medications will no longer be offered through the hospital's affiliated clinics, officials said this week, over concerns about patient safety and physician ethics.
The decision, announced in an April 2 letter to clinic physicians and staff, means those doctors are now part of a growing national trend against accepting free medication samples from drug-company representatives -- a large part of those companies' marketing efforts.
Sent out on behalf of the St. Luke's Clinic Physician Leadership Council, the letter states that the changes were made to ensure patients are receiving all the information they need about a medication when they get it -- including the usual side-effect warnings and other documentation handed out by pharmacists. But Drs. Brian Fortuin and Kurt Seppi said Friday that additional pressures make it easier just to discontinue the practice.
Relying on free samples means patients don't have a steady supply of vital medication, they said. And the fact that samples largely are provided for more high-profile, expensive medications can leave patients paying more in the end than if they'd chosen a cheaper, generic brand. Even if a doctor's doing his best to avoid advocating certain drugs, they worried, the samples still open the door to possible ethical breaches by the person a patient's supposed to trust.
"We physicians are holding ourselves to a higher standard," Fortuin said.
Free samples do have some benefits, Seppi said: nephrology patients, for example, don't have generic options to fall back on. The clinics will keep a few sample medications available for situations like those, Fortuin said, as well as invite drug companies to provide coupons or vouchers instead of the actual drugs.
Closing the doors to free samples cuts off one avenue those companies use to market their products. As more clinics make the change, the pharmaceutical industry has responded with concerns about the quality of generic drugs. It's also disputed some studies on the topic, including whether patients pay more in the end.
Drug companies also argue that the free samples represent an important service for low-income patients. But a study released in the February 2008 edition of the American Journal of Public Health concluded that most free drug samples go to patients who have insurance and make enough to easily pay for expensive prescriptions.
Debbie Kytle, St. Luke's executive director of physician services, said the samples had been limited in many clinics already. Medication removed from the clinics was given out to patients or donated, she said. The policy change, she said, also includes a push to prescribe cheaper, generic drugs when possible.
Free samples have been around for years, and Fortuin and Seppi noted that not all of their peers may share their opinions on the policy change. But, they said, the change is one piece of the work necessary to reform health care in the U.S.
"The solution can't be continuing business as usual," Seppi said. To see more of The Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.magicvalley.com Copyright (c) 2009, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho