Potential Obstacles in the Acquisition of Oral Anticancer Medications

To determine the amount of time elapsed between prescriber order and patient receiving oral anticancer medication.

Adult patients with a diagnosis of cancer were prospectively identified in three outpatient oncology clinics when oral anticancer agents were prescribed during a 4-month observation period. For each patient, time to obtain medication was analyzed by the following time points: date of prescription, date of submission to insurance, date prior authorization was obtained, date financial assistance was received, date prescription was processed by pharmacy, and date patient received medication. Out-of-pocket cost and time spent by clinic staff to facilitate the medication acquisition process were recorded.

Thirty-four patients were prescribed oral anticancer medication during the data collection period. For the 27 patients who were eligible for the primary end point, medication acquisition required a median of 10 days (range, 3 to 28 days). Overall, the rate-limiting step for medication acquisition was processing by the pharmacy, with a median of 6 days (range, 1 to 27 days). Most patients' prescription insurance plan covered a portion of medication cost, and the majority of patients considered their out-of-pocket expense to be affordable. Clinic staff spent a median of 2 hours per prescription to facilitate medication acquisition.

Patients may encounter process barriers in acquiring oral therapy, particularly because of pharmacy processing time, as well as high copays. Time to treatment initiation may have implications for patients' clinical outcomes. Adequate staff with dedicated time to facilitate this process should be used in the ambulatory oncology practice setting.