Comments on: Could you follow the advice you give your patients? http://notimetoteach.com/2010/advice/ The Essence of Patient and Family Education for Health Care Providers by Fran London, MS, RN Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:58:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Amy http://notimetoteach.com/2010/advice/comment-page-1/#comment-280 Amy Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:38:39 +0000 http://notimetoteach.com/?p=345#comment-280 Interesting blog post, Fran. I'm curious to know what your thoughts are on insurance companies getting more involved in patient ed? I got a letter in the mail from my insurance company last year letting me know that the co-pays on one of my drugs was going to go up significantly. They sent me a list of generics that I could get for the same co-pay I had been paying for the name-brand drug, and explained that I should call my doctor to request that the prescription be changed. I really appreciated that! No one from my doctor's office gave me that heads up and if I had waited to go pick up my meds from the pharmacy without getting the prescription changed to a generic, I'm not sure that I would have been able to afford getting my meds. Which could have meant me going non-compliant. Which could have been very bad for my health. It seems that I'm getting more and more in the mail from my insurance company about some of my disease/conditions. They're sending me patient education info and resources, coupons for stuff that I need to buy to stay healthy, etc. They want to keep me well because it costs them less to do so. How do you feel about insurance companies taking on a great role as patient educator and patient advocate? Interesting blog post, Fran.

I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on insurance companies getting more involved in patient ed?

I got a letter in the mail from my insurance company last year letting me know that the co-pays on one of my drugs was going to go up significantly. They sent me a list of generics that I could get for the same co-pay I had been paying for the name-brand drug, and explained that I should call my doctor to request that the prescription be changed. I really appreciated that! No one from my doctor’s office gave me that heads up and if I had waited to go pick up my meds from the pharmacy without getting the prescription changed to a generic, I’m not sure that I would have been able to afford getting my meds. Which could have meant me going non-compliant. Which could have been very bad for my health.

It seems that I’m getting more and more in the mail from my insurance company about some of my disease/conditions. They’re sending me patient education info and resources, coupons for stuff that I need to buy to stay healthy, etc. They want to keep me well because it costs them less to do so.

How do you feel about insurance companies taking on a great role as patient educator and patient advocate?

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