A149 Abstracts OBJECTIVES: Donabedian described client satisfaction as “the ultimate validator” of quality in health care. Identify items in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS)—-2002 as mea- sured by satisfaction regarding health care access that correlate with satisfaction with quality of care. This is the first step in developing a new model that relates health care access to health care quality as measured by consumer/patient satisfaction. METHODS: Access items from the survey were measured by a 4-point satisfaction scale: 1 = very satisfied to 4 = very dissatis- fied. Only responses on the 1 to 4 scale were used; all other responses or non-responses were considered as missing data. The missing data then were imputed employing the EM algorithm; complete cases were used in the analysis (N = 16,087). A linear regression model by weighted least squares using the one-year cross-sectional weights from the MCBS is done using items in the survey, measured by satisfaction, that correspond to Pen- chansky and Thomas’ five dimensions of health care access- accessibility, acceptability, accommodation, affordability, and availability- and are regressed on the dependent variable MCQUALTY (satisfaction with medical care received in last year). RESULTS: The regression model identified sixteen of 20 eligible items that significantly correlated (p < 0.05) to satisfac- tion with quality of care in the Medicare population of 2002. CONCLUSIONS: Health care access and quality of care as mea- sured by satisfaction have significant correlation in the Medicare population. PHP16 THE IMPACT OF THE PHARMACY AND THERAPEUTICS COMMITTEE ON THE PATIENTS’ ACCESS TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN THE SAUDI MINISTRY OF HEALTH: EXPLORATORY AND COMPARISON STUDY Alk el ya MA 1 , Kreling DH 2 1 University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Madison, WI, USA, 2 University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Madison, WI, USA The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) controls the uti- lization of the free pharmacy benefit program (PBP) by having a closed universal formulary and ensures the effectiveness of the PBP by instituting a pharmacy & therapeutics (P&T) committee in each hospital. OBJECTIVES: To test the relationship among the levels of development P&T committees and patients’ access rates to prescription drugs. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was conducted in the first phase and covered 127 MOH pharmacy managers at non-specialized hos- pitals. The survey gathered information about: hospital, phar- macy, and P&T committee characteristics. The survey results were used to classify the MOH hospitals according to the levels of development of the P&T committee. In the second phase, the prescription audit phase, hospitals deliberately were selected based on the hospitals’ P&T committee levels of development. From each hospital, 150 patient records were systematically sampled and patient’s access rate was calculated for each patient. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the existence of a significant difference in the access rates across the levels of development of P&T committee. RESULTS: Of 127 MOH hos- pitals, 81 (63.7%) hospitals were valid for the analysis. Of 81 hospitals, 13, 24, 39, 5 hospitals have undeveloped, poorly, par- tially, and developed P&T committees, respectively. A total of 6885 prescription drugs were prescribed for 2850 patients in 19 audited hospitals. The overall rate for patients’ access was 97.3%. The ANOVA tests for the existence of a significant dif- ference of access rates across the levels of development of P&T committee showed mixed results. CONCLUSIONS: The positive relationship between the levels of development of P&T commit- tee and patient’s access to prescription drugs was not conclusive. However, the finding might be due to lack of enough data and controls of other confounding variables rather than inexistence of the relationship. PHP17 IMPACT OF CO-PAY DIFFERENTIAL ON GENERIC PRESCRIPTIONS FILLED THROUGH 90-DAY RETAIL CHANNEL Jiang JZ , Fuldeore M, Sun SX, Lee KY Walgreens Health Services, Deerfield, IL, USA OBJECTIVES: A newly developed 90-day retail-dispensing program allows members to obtain 90-day supplies of mainte- nance medications through a retail pharmacy stores at a discount co-payment. The objective of this study is to investigate if there is any relationship between generic utilization observed in pre- scriptions dispensed through this channel and members’ co-pay difference between brand and generic medications. METHODS: The analysis was conducted using pharmacy claim data obtained from a pharmacy benefit management organization. Clients included in the analysis were those who implemented the 90-day retail program from January 2004 to July 2004 and also allowed its members to obtain prescriptions through both 90-day mail and 30-day retail channels. The relationship between generic uti- lization and co-pay structure was assessed using multiple regres- sion analysis. The dependent variable was proportion of generic prescription claims dispensed through 90-day retail channel. The independent variables were ratio of brand to generic cost, the absolute co-pay amount difference between brand and generic medications, age, gender, and prior generic utilization of 90-day mail as well as 30-day retail program. RESULTS: A total of 25 clients were included in the analysis. In 90-day retail program, the generic utilization ranged from 21.5% to 77.5%, ratio of brand to generic cost varied from 1.9 to 6.2, and absolute co- pay amount difference between brand and generic medications varied from $11.2 to $101.5. A linear, positive relationship was observed between generic utilization and ratio of brand to generic cost (P < 0.05). Previous 90-day mail generic utilization was also found to have positive impact on the 90-day retail generic utilization (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Study results indicate an increase in co-pay difference between brand and generic medications do have a positive impact on 90-day retail generic utilization. Further investigation is needed to test the relationship between co-pay structure and generic utilization among different channels. PHP18 IMPACT OF STEPS (SAFE,THERAPEUTIC AND ECONOMIC PHARMACEUTICAL SELECTION) MODEL ON PRESCRIBING COSTS OF STATINS Alabbadi I 1 , Crealey G 2 ,Troughton T 3 , Baird S 4 , Miars J 5 , Scott M 3 , McElnay J 1 1 Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK, 2 Clinical Research Support Centre & Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK, 3 Antrim Area Hospital, Antrim, UK, 4 Broughshane Medical Practice, Antrim, UK, 5 United Hospitals Trust, Antrim, UK OBJECTIVE: STEPS is a structured model for the selection of drugs for formulary inclusion. The aim of this study was to use the STEPS model in the selection of statin products for use within a health board in Northern Ireland. METHODS: The STEPS model involved three phases in sequence: an evidence based pharmacotherapeutic evaluation of all available statin drug enti- ties in the UK, a separate safety/risk assessment analysis of product lines of drug entities which exceeded the pharma- cotherapeutic threshold and finally a budget impact analysis. A brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector