Following the publication of Aimed Alliance’s report, A Forced Hand: How Ohio Health Systems’ Non-Medical Switching Policies Impact Physicians and Patients, Cleveland.com published an article calling attention to the issue of Ohio hospitals requiring stable patients to switch their medications for cost-driven reasons. The report found that hospitals are removing medications from their internal formularies, no longer stocking medications in the hospital pharmacy, and then instructing physicians to switch their patients’ medications. In the article, Aimed Alliance Counsel Stacey L. Worthy stated that, after hearing anecdotes of nonmedical switching happening in Ohio hospitals and health systems, our report “found that it was happening, and systematically.” Emphasizing the harmful nature of these policies, this article calls attention to the 69 percent of patients who were forced to switch medications and had to try several other options before finding one that worked for them. This type of access barrier interrupts patients’ continuity of care and can disrupt the stability they have achieved on their current medication.
Last Updated on May 14, 2020 by Aimed Alliance
