Impact of drug substitution legislation--implications for continuing education for Michigan pharmacists

In June 1974, Michigan Public Law 155 was enacted. This law permits a pharmacist to exercise drug product selection under specified conditions. The intent of the legislation is to achieve savings in prescription drug costs by encouraging pharmacists to dispense less costly, generically equivalent products. For this legislation to be effective, there have to be many substitutable products for a sufficient number of drugs; there has to be minimal interference with pharmacists' judgment; and pharmacists must be aware of the products available. As part of a survey, we attempted to measure physicians' and pharmacists' knowledge of generically equivalent products. Pharmacists demonstrated a higher level of knowledge of drug products. Continuing education must respond to the needs of more complicated societal demands.