MedNet©

In 1999, the Pasco-Pinellas District Health Plan concluded that residents die most often from heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and lung disease and that these chronic conditions contribute substantially to racial and ethnic health disparities. Individuals with chronic conditions required ongoing and often medically complex treatment regimens, including extended use of prescription drugs. Access to prescription medications was identified as a critical element in the effective management of chronic disease, yet the high cost of medications is a barrier to care that requires individuals to choose between purchasing prescription drugs or other essential goods and services.

Community leaders recommended developing a Compassionate Drug Patient Assistance Program to expand access to prescription drugs for low-income uninsured adults, including seniors. In 2000 Pinellas County Government funded a compassionate drug program and retained the Suncoast Health Council to design and implement program services.

MedNet© assists individuals in acquiring prescription medications from pharmaceutical companies that offer patient assistance programs. The program utilizes a unique database which provides the instructions and applications needed to request medications from 90 pharmaceutical companies offering prescription coverage for over 1,000 medications. Currently MedNet© is operating programs from several sites in Pinellas County: Bayfront Family Health Center, Suncoast Health Council, St. Petersburg Free Clinic (2),and Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center. The Health Council has recently expanded services to Polk County and is operating out of the Polk County Community Health and Social Services division in Bartow, Florida.

MedNet© enhances the community's capacity to manage chronic disease by facilitating timely and consistent access to prescription drug therapy. MedNet© eliminates economic and literacy barriers that impede access to prescription drugs by securing free medications for low-literate, low-income uninsured adults, including the working poor. MedNet© also promotes collaboration between private physicians, their patients, the safety net system, and the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, which is required by law to provide pharmaceutical support to chronically-ill adults with limited income. The application process used by manufacturers requires applicants to be literate, mentally focused, and extremely resourceful however, and these are challenging skills for multiply-diagnosed individuals to master. MedNet© clears those obstacles by working one-on-one with patients to assist them with the application and refill process.

In calendar year 2007, the MedNet© program secured almost $2 million in free medications with a return on investment of over $7 in free prescription drugs for every $1 spent to provide program services.  MedNet’s value was most pronounced at clinic-based sites, where patient advocates secured almost $13 in free prescription medications for every $1 spent to provide program services.