Improving antiulcer agent prescribing in a health maintenance organization

A study was made of the effect of one-to-one educational meetings between prescribers and a pharmacist on the prescribing of antiulcer agents for outpatients in a health maintenance organization (HMO). Ten-minute presentations were developed that communicated the same basic facts through the use of case studies (vivid interventions) or statistical data (nonvivid interventions). After a control group (n = 8) was selected, prescribers (n = 16) were randomly assigned to receive vivid interventions or nonvivid interventions. Data on the prescribing of cimetidine, ranitidine, and sucralfate were collected for one month before the interventions and for two months afterward. Three clinical pharmacy professors independently evaluated prescriptions for appropriateness of indication, dosage, and duration. No differences in appropriateness were found between the two intervention groups, but in the first postintervention month the mean rate of inappropriate prescribing per control practitioner was 80%, versus less than 32% for the intervention groups (p less than 0.01). Each prescription in the first postintervention month entailed a mean cost of $31 per control practitioner for inappropriate prescribing, compared with less than $12 for the intervention groups (p less than 0.01). Mean costs of inappropriate prescriptions per practitioner per patient visit were $0.88 and less than or equal to $0.41 for the control and intervention groups, respectively (p less than 0.05). During postvisit month 2, inappropriate prescribing for both intervention groups increased slightly and was no longer significantly less than that in the control group. One-to-one educational meetings improved the prescribing of antiulcer agents for outpatients in an HMO.