Everybody talks about American healthcare but no one is able to deal with its problems. One of the main issues to fix is the pricing policy. The competitiveness in the pharmaceutical market is so insignificant, that you have to pay for overpriced pills from the brand manufacturers having no possibility to access cheaper generic options. This is a problem that has been addressed extensively by Mapofmedicine.com, a web resource spreading awareness about nonbrand and more accessible medications. Drugs in countries with process type of patents have natural price competition, and the consumer is the winner, while in the U.S., the product type of patent protects interests of pharmaceutical giants imposing runaway prices.
According to the opinion of Martin Adel Makary, Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the main problems of modern American healthcare and pharmaceutical systems are caused by:
- Inappropriate care of regular Americans working full-time and paying the bills and taxes to the government that does not provide them with much of a choice;
- Administrative waste and careless work of the third parties;
- Inadequate pricing policy ignored by the government – prices on drugs are not controlled.
These issues are also causes of the opioid crisis. According to the official information posted on the official website of The White House, Trump Administration has finally escalated the issue to the governmental level.
Trump suggests a list of measures. Nevertheless, they need time to prove their effectiveness. That’s when legitimate online pharmacies might come in handy. There are many things telemedicine and online pharmaceutical marketing will manage to deal with.
Health Care Reform
Affordable Care Act is one of the most successful positive changes in matters of healthcare, and midterm elections prove it. However, there’s still a lot of room for improvement in:
- Pricing policy;
- Affordability and accessibility;
- A more developed system of discount and premiums.
More than $3 trillion are invested in healthcare every year. It’s one of the most significant expenses in the country. Online pharmacies can address these challenges by offering a wider range of medications and delivering them wherever the clients might want to regardless of the remoteness. In addition, the choice of generic drugs is always bigger with online pharmacies, and as is pointed out on the website of Canadian Health&Care Mall, insurance companies provide hefty incentives for patients who choose cheaper generic versions when possible by charging smaller co-pays.
Lack of Drugs
More than two hundred drugs are not available to Americans all over the country. The situation hasn’t changed since 2018. According to The New York Times, it’s high time to provide the citizens with high-quality and safe generic medications. The government will encourage drug suppliers to pay more attention to the generic versions of cancer drugs. It will be beneficial for patients on maintenance therapy, suffering from chronic pains and conditions. Study the FDA report posted about a month ago to find out more about drug shortages and ways to beat them. Needless to say, online pharmacies can offer substantial help from over-the-border.
Rising Price Tags
The US experienced $460B spending on prescription drugs, and this sum will increase by the end of the year and in the period of celebrations. The insufficient care about the patients, high prices, and lame pharmaceutical system provoked complex health conditions in young and middle-aged Americans. Drugs for these patients are unique and costly, which becomes a beneficial outpatient business for hospitals. Online pharmacies can finally offer a broad range of alternatives for complex patient conditions.
Destructing Innovations
Telemedicine combines numerous organizations including hospitals, private medical practitioners, drugstores, medicine suppliers, pharmaceutical warehouses, and online drugstores. The way ways you choose and pay for the medications have become more practical. However, the online marketing of drugs gave way to illegal trade and counterfeit products. Online pharmacies controlled on the governmental level will manage to help online users stay on the safe side.
Safe Preparation
It’s one of the chief focuses of the Trump Administration’s health care reform. Pharmaceutical compounding is a flawless solution for patients who need certain drugs but can’t tolerate some of their ingredients. If you want to know more about the process, check this FDA link to find out more. Compounding is about personalized drugs for the needs of anyone.
State Boards of Pharmacy are trying hard to be precise about the regulations of sterile pharmaceutical compounding. When compounding officially becomes one of the legitimate activities of online pharmacies, the competitiveness with the regular pharmacies and pharmaceutical laboratories will emerge, thus leading to the decrease of prices on meds.
340B Program
It’s a governmental program established in 1992 destined to control the pricing of drugs. It encourages the suppliers of drugs to reduce the prices of outpatient drugs. This way, you get meds with impressive discounts of up to 50%. If online pharmacies get a chance to become a part of this program officially, the supply of drugs all over the country will become more stable and efficient for customers regardless of their financial position.
Opioid Crisis
The sad news is that this opioid problem does not seem to eliminate itself on its own. Opioid misuse leads to dramatic and traumatic results, which is a great shock for the country. Numerous people are not properly informed about the consequences of medication addictions. The latest reports say that more than 130 Americans die every day because of the misuse of opioid drugs.
Online pharmacies, cooperating with the hospitals and medical organizations, can provide improved opioid management and educate people on the basic use of highly effective but dangerous drugs.
ACO Programs
Accountable Care Organizations are groups of pharmaceutical and medical organizations, physicians, pharmacists, hospitals, and generous entrepreneurs ready to provide sufficient care for patients who have no possibility to pay for their treatment. It’s a voluntary program destined to save those, who are already desperate to find help and medical support. When private online pharmacies get a chance to become a part of this team, the territorial coverage of these programs will get more significant.
Shortage of Workforce
It seems that 2019 will be very challenging for healthcare organizations. There’s an excessive amount of regular pharmacists, but the number of trained technicians is insufficient. Online pharmacies regularly promote special courses for their staff members so that they could improve their skills and get new knowledge. Training pharmacists to become laboratory technicians is one of their chief interests.
PBM Industry
It is known as Pharmacy Benefit Management. PBM administers manages your healthcare expenses and provides stable contact between your healthcare supplier and a pharmacy. This way, American consumers and employers have beneficial prices on prescription drugs and medical services. Unfortunately, online pharmacies are still not included in PBM’s field of activity. When they finally manage to get involved in the program, they will be able to:
- Provide educational programs for patients;
- Share important knowledge on the effects of the drugs;
- Promote a healthy lifestyle to improve people’s attitudes to their well-being and taking care of themselves.