The impact of drug bulletins on physician prescribing habits in a health maintenance organization

The concern over rising health care costs has created an environment that is favorable for the development of efficient health care programs. Pharmacists have been instrumental in developing and implementing programs to reduce drug costs, but many of these lack adequate documentation in the literature. One such area is the impact of disseminating drug bulletins to prescribers. This study was undertaken to assess quantitatively the impact of drug bulletins on physician prescribing habits and to measure the resultant changes in drug cost. This was a retrospective examination of Prime Health's acquisition of certain drugs described in five separate drug bulletins before and after issuance of the bulletins. We were able to demonstrate statistically significant changes in the proportions of drugs acquired after dissemination of each bulletin. In some cases, these changes persisted for the duration of the study (one year after issuance of the bulletin); in other cases, they reverted to pre-bulletin proportions. These changes resulted in mean drug cost reductions of 30 percent per calendar quarter for all of the post-bulletin period. Our findings suggest that the issuance of certain types of drug bulletins to prescribers is associated with a significant change in their prescribing habits, with resultant cost savings.