CMUThought Community Thought

Healthcare will be a topic of discussion as the democrats take control of the Senate and the House. On the top of their agenda is the price of Pharmaceutical Drugs like the number one prescribed statin for cholesterol Lipitor . The debate will continue on whether they allow reimportation, or are allowed to set prices. Neither which would be good for the pharmaceutical industry or the patients. No matter the cost of prescription drugs if patients are non-compliant in taking their medication as prescribed then it will make no difference.Epocrates is a tool that can help the health care provider (HCP) educate their patients on the proper dosing, dug interactions and health care plans. Epocrates is a web based application and can also be downloaded to an HCPs handheld device such as their Palm Pilot. It provides them with timely information on formularies, patient education, and additional tools. Epocrate is also enhancing its free web-based drug and formulary reference guide to help the HCP to patient conversation. Since most patients are taking multiple medications they sometimes get confused on which little pink pill to take and why exactly they are taking it. With over 3,300 drugs in their database, and over 130 health plans HCPs can provide more timely advice to their patients and even be able to print out patient education.

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