Drug shortages have profound negative effects on patients, affecting their health by interrupting their treatment, but also their emotional wellbeing and financial situation.
The impact of drug shortages on patients
The most common and obvious way in which drug shortages affect patients is treatment disruption. When a patient loses access to their prescribed drugs, this can result in gaps in treatment and possible health issues. Disruptions in treatment influence the overall efficiency of their treatment.
In addition to this, when patients are unable to obtain their prescribed drugs, they might resort to alternative therapies. The therapy outcomes are suboptimal at best and at worst can cause harm.
Medication shortages usually come with a financial burden. When a drug a patient uses becomes unavailable, they have to seek alternative medications often not covered by their insurance plans. Having to pay full retail prices means higher out-of-pocket costs for patients. This can be especially challenging for patients with limited resources that rely on prescription drugs for their chronic conditions.
Beyond these aspects, drug shortages can also affect the patients' mental health. Not having access to proper treatment and in turn being unable to manage their health condition effectively causes stress, anxiety and feelings of helplessness.
If patients try alternative treatments or substitute drugs, these are often not effective enough, which means having to deal with the symptoms of the condition that the patient is being treated for, at least to some extent. Substitute drugs can also have unexpected side effects, which can obviously be frustrating for patients.
Avoid shortages with Ex-PRICE
With its insights, Ex-PRICE will make sure you always have access to real-time data about drug shortages, withdrawals, drug pricing and availability and much more.
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