717 Abstracts to uniquely relate to plan quality. The quality of the plan was strongly linked to satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, consumers rated the quality of their Rx plan as high, were generally satisfied with their plans and ranked the importance as high. The results indicate that plan quality was dependent on satisfaction with out-of-pocket payments. We also found that plan importance was pre- dominately driven by consumer’s personal awareness of the need for prescription medications. As consumer infor- mation on Rx plans becomes more available, it is imper- ative that information be presented in such a way as to assist consumers in comparing and selecting appropriate plans. PHP20 MARKET SHARE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF GENERIC DRUGS IN GREECE Geitona M , Kyriopoulos J, Zavras D, Karamouzis J National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece OBJECTIVE: To investigate the market share of generics, their production and promotion process by the Greek pharmaceutical industry. METHODS: Analyses are based on questionnaire mailed to companies members of the Greek Federation of Pharmaceutical Companies, in 2002 with a response rate of 52%. Questionnaire was divided in three sections, first requested information on the com- panies’ involvement in the production of generics, second on companies’ opinion regarding generics characteristics and government interventions, third on policies affected generics demand. Data was analyzed in two stages, first concerning detailed description of outcomes and second percentage comparisons through binomial tests. RESULTS: A total of 46.4% of the companies are involved in the production and distribution of generics while 53.6% are not, their difference is not statistically significant (equality of percentages test p = 0.59). The mean period of companies involvement is 12 years while 80.8% of the respondents expressed positively for their companies involvement in generics. A total of 30.8% of the companies consider that the most important charac- teristic of generics is that they are safe and cheap substi- tutes of the brand drugs. Of the companies, 88.5% consider government does not promote the prescription of generics, whereas 11.5% had different opinion, bino- mial test for the equality of percentages resulted in p < 0.001, meaning that the difference is statistically signifi- cant. The majority of companies (70.4%) consider that cost-effectiveness analyses should be the criteria for inclu- sion in the prescribed drug list vs. 18.5% the cost of treat- ment, 3.7% for reference pricing and 3.7% for the daily dose cost of treatment. Finally, majority of companies consider the positive list as the most important factor for the promotion of generics from health professionals. CONCLUSION: Generics share in Greece is lower com- pared to the EU countries. High share of imported brand drugs, irrational pricing and parallel exports are main factors contributing to continuing increase in drug expen- diture and decrease in the drug production of Greek industry. PHP21 IMPACT OF PHARMACY INTERVENTIONS ON QUALITY OF HOSPITAL PRESCRIBING: INTERVENTIONS AND COST SAVINGS ASSESSMENT Hsu C , Kuo H,Tai C Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung,Taiwan OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the impact of staff phar- macists of interventions at a large (2389 beds), tertiary care teaching hospital in Southern Taiwan. METHODS: Based on the self-reported documentation made by phar- macists during the conduct of routine dispensing activi- ties in ambulatory and inpatient setting. Those intervened suggestions were accepted by prescribing physicians. A peer-review team decided the potential clinical signifi- cance of the self-reported documentation, and assessed their cost savings results. Data collection period was from January 1 to December 31, 2001. RESULTS: A total of 4424 interventions (94.8% of reported documentations) by 25 pharmacists were analyzed. Of which, 59.4% of these interventions were found to affect inappropriate prescribing, 35.4% of these interventions were associated with inappropriate drug utilization and the remaining 5.2% of interventions were drug interactions and mis- cellaneousness. Six percent of reported documents were evaluated in terms of direct cost savings (the difference in actual acquisition costs between prescriptions). Cost savings were over $7400 and average $27 per interven- tion for those sampled data. The most cost-saving interventions were related to incorrect quantity with the indication, no indication, and improper concomitants/ duplication. CONCLUSIONS: The self-report documen- tation tool in this constitute confirms the potential to min- imize the risks, cost saving and to improve hospital prescribing associated with drug therapy. PHP22 AN INVESTIGATION OF GENERIC DRUG UTILISATION AND POTENTIAL SAVINGS FROM GENERIC SUBSTITUTION IN THE IRISH HEALTH CARE SETTING Tilson L 1 , McGowan B 1 , Bennett K 2 , Ryan M 1 , Barry M 1 1 National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, James’s St, Ireland; 2 Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland OBJECTIVES: Expenditure on medicines continues to increase significantly in Ireland. Total payments to phar- macies by the state for the year 2001 was €674.8 million, a 27% increase as compared with the year 2000. Pre- scribing less expensive generic preparations is one method of reducing costs while maintaining therapeutic efficacy. While generic prescribing is encouraged, generic substi- tution by pharmacists is not permitted. In this study the