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Doctor shopping for medications used in the treatment of attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder: shoppers often pay in cash and cross state lines
#MMPMID25860878
Cepeda MS
; Fife D
; Berwaerts J
; Friedman A
; Yuan Y
; Mastrogiovanni G
Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse
2015[May]; 41
(3
): 226-9
PMID25860878
show ga
BACKGROUND: Doctor shopping, defined by filling overlapping prescriptions from
more than one prescriber at more than two pharmacies, is a way to obtain
scheduled medications for diversion or abuse. Little is known about how far
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication shoppers travel, how
often they cross state lines to fill their ADHD prescriptions and how often they
pay for their medication in cash, i.e. entirely out of pocket. OBJECTIVE: We
sought to describe the pattern of doctor shopping for ADHD medications: how far
shoppers travel, how often they cross state lines to fill their prescriptions,
and how often they pay in cash. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study using LRx, a
large US retail prescription database. We included subjects with any ADHD
medication dispensed between 2011 and 2012. Subjects were followed for 18 months.
RESULTS: Of a total of 4?402?464 subjects exposed to ADHD medications, 0.4%
developed shopping behavior. Women were more likely to become shoppers. Shoppers
travelled a median of 91.9 miles and non-shoppers 0.2 miles to fill their ADHD
prescriptions. Almost 28% of the shoppers filled prescriptions in >1 state
compared with 4.3% of non-shoppers. Of the shoppers, 27.3% paid at least one
prescription in cash compared to 14.4% of the non-shoppers. CONCLUSIONS: Shoppers
travelled larger distances, visited more states and paid in cash for ADHD
medications more often than non-shoppers. Data sharing among prescriptions
monitoring programs can improve their effectiveness and drug utilization studies
should take account of cash purchases.
|*Commerce
[MESH]
|Adolescent
[MESH]
|Adult
[MESH]
|Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/*drug therapy
[MESH]