Can your patients afford the medications you prescribe?

Y ou’re finishing up your visit with Mrs. Allen. She’s been your patient for more than 15 years. You’ve been treating her hypertension and type-2 diabetes for most of that time. Until recently, she was able to control both with some of the newer medications for these diseases. Over the past year, however, both her hypertension and diabetes have been sliding out of control. Her weight has remained stable, and she swears she’s been following the diet the dietician recommended. You’ve added some newer medications to no avail. You are becoming increasingly frustrated and angry over your failure to help this kind lady control her medical problems. While going over the instructions on how to take the latest hypoglycemic you are prescribing, you notice a few small holes in her sweater and that the cuffs of her blouse are fraying. Then you see the safety pin holding her glasses together. It’s a busy day, so you finish the prescription, answer her final questions and move to the next patient. You feel sure the newest medication will get her diabetes under control. You leave the room feeling you have done a good job for her, answering all her questions. What you didn’t do was ask a very important question – one that may hold the answer to why Mrs. Allen’s hypertension and diabetes are getting out of control. You failed to inquire whether she could afford the medications you so hopefully prescribed.