Does Physician Dispensing Increase Drug Expenditures? Empirical Evidence from Switzerland.

Physician drug dispensing in Switzerland: association on health care expenditures and utilization

BACKGROUND Several countries recently reassessed the roles of drug prescribing and dispensing, either by enlarging pharmacists' rights to prescribe (e.g. the US and the United Kingdom) or by limiting physicians' rights to dispense (e.g. Taiwan and South Korea). While integrating the two roles might increase supply and be convenient for patients, concern is that drug mark-ups incite providers to...

Does Physician Dispensing Increase Drug Expenditures ?

Medication adherence in patients with diabetes mellitus: does physician drug dispensing enhance quality of care? Evidence from a large health claims database in Switzerland

BACKGROUND The drug-dispensing channel is a scarcely explored determinant of medication adherence, which is considered as a key indicator for the quality of care among patients with diabetes mellitus. In this study, we investigated the difference in adherence between diabetes patients who obtained their medication directly from a prescribing physician (physician dispensing [PD]) or via a pharma...

Antibiotic consumption and the role of dispensing physicians

The bene…ts of separating drug prescribing and dispensing are still unclear, in particular when drug consumption is characterized by important spillovers. We investigate the role of dispensing physicians in the consumption of antibiotics characterized by two opposite external e¤ects: infection prevention and control, and bacterial resistance. We model the interaction between competing physician...

Prescription of potentially inappropriate medication in older persons in Switzerland: does the dispensing channel make a difference?

BACKGROUND Drugs can be supplied either directly from the prescribing physician (physician dispensing [PD]) or via a pharmacy. It is unclear whether the dispensing channel is associated with quality problems. Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) is associated with adverse outcomes in older persons and can be considered a marker for quality deficits in prescribing. We investigated whether ...