Exploring knowledge of prescription charges: a cross-sectional survey of pharmacists and the community

To determine the level of knowledge in the community, and the implications of recent changes to prescription prices that occurred in July 2007 in New Zealand.

Two separate face-to-face surveys were conducted involving pharmacists (n=20) and the community (n=80).

In the community survey, 73.8% were unaware of the prescription price changes and 67.5% were unaware that the cost of prescriptions was prescriber-dependent. Cost was cited as a reason for not filling a script in the last 6 months by 8.75% of all respondents in the community survey. After being informed of the decreased prescription price, 28% stated that this change would increase the likelihood of seeing a doctor when they are ill. Pharmacists surveyed perceived that this change had decreased their profit, and 20% reported occasions on which patients had taken a specialist prescription to their GP to have rewritten in order to obtain the reduced primary health organisation (PHO) price.

This study showed that the majority of community participants were not aware of either the price change, or the prescriber-dependent access to cheaper prescriptions. This lack of knowledge could be a significant barrier to healthcare. It is critical that both the inequalities in access to cheaper medications are reviewed and that the complex pricing system is simplified to eliminate disparities between providers. Further, this study highlights the increasing role of GPs as gatekeepers to resources including reduced cost prescriptions.