Member Satisfaction Related to Self-Reported Cost Share and Difficulty in Obtaining Prescription Drugs in a University Pharmacy Benefit Plan

BACKGROUND: Designs, prior authorization, step therapy, quantity limits are commonly used to optimize the efficiency and appropriateness of drug therapy. However, these tools may also lead to unfavorable humanistic outcomes, including confusion or annoyance for patients. There is also some concern about whether these tools, along with the cost-sharing burden for medications, may cause patients to discontinue using their medications as well as lead to dissatisfaction with pharmacy benefits. Although anecdotal evidence can be collected from customer complaints, few studies have systematically examined the extent to which prescription drug plan enrollees experience difficulties in obtaining medications and whether these difficulties are associated with their satisfaction with the drug plan. OBJECTIVES: To determine from a member satisfaction survey (1) perception of difficulties experienced by drug plan members when they tried to obtain prescription medications, (2) whether some segments of members experienced more difficulties, and (3) whether self-reported difficulties in acquiring medications were associated with member satisfaction. METHODS: The analyses were based on a cross-sectional survey using a stratified sample of drug plan members. Four thousand employees or retirees who used the University of Michigan prescription drug plan were sent a survey in 2005 to ascertain their satisfaction with the drug plan as well as their experiences with the plan. Specifically, the analyses focused on how frequently the patients experienced difficulties in obtaining medications because of costs or drug use management interventions (e.g., prior authorization, step therapy). Logistic regression analyses examined the relationship of copayment changes and drug use management interventions on patients' satisfaction with the drug plan. RESULTS: Surveys were returned by 2,061 of the potential 3,667 eligible subjects with valid addresses (56.2% response rate). An overwhelming majority (83.7%) of respondents were satisfied with the pharmacy benefit 17.6% reported being somewhat satisfied, 46.5% were satisfied, and 19.6% were very satisfied. Approximately 25% of drug plan members reported at least 1 difficulty in obtaining medication during the preceding year, including 11.4% who reported difficulties related to prior authorization or step therapy; only 2.0% reported that they couldn't afford their medication, and only 1.3% reported difficulty in paying the combined cost of their medications. Current employees were more likely to report difficulties than were retirees (30.7% vs. 19.1%; chi-square=34.8; P less than 0.01), and users of the mail-service pharmacy were somewhat more likely to experience difficulties than users of community pharmacies (29.1% vs. 22.9%; chi-square=9.92; P less than 0.01). The logistic regression analyses revealed that having difficulty obtaining medications (odds ratio [OR]=0.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.20-0.35) and experiencing a copayment increase (OR=0.62; 95% CI, 0.48-0.81) were associated with a lower odds of member satisfaction. However, a high percentage of members were satisfied despite any difficulties or copayment changes: 66.9% for self-reported difficulty in obtaining medications compared with 89.7% (chi-square=145.4, P less than 0.01) and 78.6% for self-reported copayment increase compared with 87.9% (chi-square=30.2, P less than 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Survey respondents were highly satisfied with their pharmacy benefits despite drug use management interventions in this pharmacy benefit plan. Respondents who reported a copayment increase or difficulty in obtaining medication were less likely to be satisfied with the drug plan.