As the Legislature continues to look at budget overrides, we urge them to override the Governor’s veto of funding for the academic detailing, or evidence-based prescription drug outreach and education, program, line item 4510-0716. This program saves the state money – according to an economic model developed by Dr. Avorn and Dr. Soumerai at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, every dollar spent on academic detailing returns, at a minimum, two dollars in drug costs. The program takes information learned through comparative effectiveness research on drugs and translates it into practice for health care practitioners. This program is designed to generate health care cost savings for the state. Given the ever-increasing cost of prescription drugs, this could amount to millions of dollars in savings annually. This funding will enable to program to continue providing valuable information to clinicians in Massachusetts. The information provided is unbiased and designed to help a clinician make appropriate treatment choices with her patient. At times like these, we need programs that save the Commonwealth money.

Programs such as these will be invaluable as the Commonwealth implements payment reform. Higher quality, lower cost care is only possible if providers are given the tools to deliver that care. Academic detailing is a major tool that will allow us to take the next steps towards payment reform.

Georgia Maheras, Esq.
Private Market Policy Manager