[StBernard] Doctor Offers Tips To Avoid Prescription Switching

[Westley Annis]

Doctor Offers Tips To Avoid Prescription Switching
Generics In La. Could Have 20 Percent More, Less Active Ingredient
WDSU.com
updated 8:18 p.m. CT, Wed., May 12, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - WDSU .com

There's a difference between name-brand and generic drugs, and Louisiana
medical professionals said patients should be aware of how their
prescriptions are being filled.

Lexi Moore is no stranger to prescription medicine. Last year, she was
diagnosed with a rare cancer that caused a tumor to grow in her heart.

"My child is fighting for her life every day, and she needs the best
medicine that our technology can provide for her," said Lexi's mother, Tara
Moore. "Whatever the cost is, we need to make sure she gets the best care
she can get."

The best care often means name-brand medicine, which is something many
insurance companies won't pay for if there's a generic equivalent.

The practice of swapping out medications is legal in most states. It's
called "therapeutic substitution." The patient winds up with a cheaper
medication in the same class of drugs.

Often, those less-expensive drugs are generics, and in Louisiana, they can
actually have 20 percent less or even 20 percent more of the active
ingredient found in the name-brand medication.

"I prescribed what I knew would work well," said pediatric hematologist and
oncologist Dr. Tami Singleton. "I knew the patient history, age, etc., wrote
the prescription and could not figure out why it wasn't working."

Singleton is Lexi's doctor. She said prescription switching happens all the
time, but you can protect yourself.

"Knowing the exact name of the drug and if there's any deviation from that,
a change to a generic, a slight change of name, a change to the amount of
the drug," she said. "Talk to the pharmacist and doctor about those changes
to see if they're OK."

Singleton said not to be afraid to ask the pharmacist things like, "Is this
the same drug my doctor prescribed for me? If it is, but just a generic
form, is that OK with my particular condition?"

She said to ask if what it is that you're being treated for definitely makes
a difference. For example, when it comes to anti-depressant medications,
many of the name brands have unique, time-released formulas that the
generics don't, so getting the exact medicine that a doctor prescribes is a
must.

"There's a place where this should stop, and coming into the exam room with
me is where it should stop," Singleton said.

Consumer advocates said cholesterol-lowering drugs, anti-depressants,
epilepsy drugs and medicines that reduce stomach acid are switched the most.

There are two more things to do to prevent prescription switching, according
to WDSU medical editor Dr. Corey Hebert.

Hebert said to ask doctors to write "DAW" on the prescription, which means
"dispense as written." He also said to ask the pharmacist to put a note in
the patient's records saying that they don't want prescriptions switched
without approval.