One of the greatest moments in my professional career was the day I received my first Rx pads and wrote my first prescription. Now, thousands of Rxs’ later, among the most frustrating parts of my day is writing a prescription. I need not tell you how much prescribing has changed over a relatively short period, but writing an Rx today is a complicated nightmare of prior authorizations, pharmacy call backs and prescription denials. At its core are greedy insurance companies and their formulary middlemen, exorbitant drug prices, government lunacy and finger pointing at everyone by everyone. In the end, we are left weary, and our patients frustrated and angry. I am sick and tired of my patients not being able to get what I prescribe. My staff is fed up with being abused by a system that gets in the way of quality patient care. I know I am not alone.

The simple truth here, as with many things, is that all is not as it seems. While Big Pharma gets the blame for a lot of this, in most cases they are actually the least deserving of it. In reality, drug prices are jacked up because the pharmaceutical industry is forced to pay exorbitant amounts to insurers just to get their medications covered on formularies. Big Pharma is as frustrated by this broken system as we and our patients are.

Thankfully, several companies are starting to do something about it. About two years ago, I was approached by Novartis to gauge my interest in helping create an alternative drug delivery model that would get much-needed class-leading branded medications to our patients at affordable prices without interference and added costs imposed by health insurers. I gladly accepted.

Creating something so potentially disruptive wasn’t simple, and the initial program took many twists and turns. While my role in developing it was relatively small, what eventually came out of this initiative is game-changing and has the power to transform how we prescribe and how our patients receive medications. I am not talking about obsolete generic medications; I am talking about state of the art, branded medications, supplied directly by the manufacturer and, most importantly, at fair cost and with easy access.

MyChoiceRx is a groundbreaking program created through a partnership between Novartis and ScriptHero. A sign of Novartis’ renewed engagement with the eyecare community MyChoiceRx reimagines prescribing, making it easy and straightforward again. Right now, it is fully up and running in its initial implementation phase and includes Travatan Z, Durezol and Ilevro. Other medications will likely be added in the future.

Using it is simple for prescribers and patients. Choose one of the covered medications, send the Rx to ScriptHero Pharmacy (listed in the prescribing module of your EHR). The patient will receive a text message with a link that will allow them to select a local pharmacy from more than 55,000 listed, where they can pick up the medication for $60 or less. The patient’s insurance is not involved, which eliminates the biggest headaches we have. We’ve been using MyChoiceRx for the past month with great success, and I urge you to try it. Thanks to Novartis for creating something that helps us better help our patients!

Arthur B. Epstein, OD, FAAO Chief Medical Editor artepstein@optometricphysician.com