~Links Within DynaMed™ Drug Topics Help Clinicians Provide Pharmaceutical Cost Assistance to Patients ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — July 29, 2010 — A new service within the DynaMed™ point-of-care clinical reference from EBSCO Publishing will link clinicians to cost assistance programs designed to help patients afford their medications. DynaMed drug topics now include links to NeedyMeds (www.NeedyMeds.org), a non-profit organization that provides patients with free information on how to obtain medication cost assistance—with or without health insurance.

To help clinicians provide comprehensive information on pharmaceutical cost assistance to their patients, DynaMed has added direct links from most drug topics to the related NeedyMeds information page. The Medication Cost Assistance Program section of the drug topic can be referenced to share information with the patient on cost assistance and/or discounted rates for drugs. NeedyMeds also provides information on federal and state programs for medical care for adults and children, and cost assistance programs for medical supplies.

Brian S. Alper, MD, MSPH, DynaMed founder and editor-in-chief, says being able to access information that will help patients pay for their prescriptions and medical supplies is another tool that allows clinicians to better manage a given case. “There are situations where medication is an essential part of a diagnosis and treatment plan and being able to help a patient uncover ways to afford that medication means better care. For instance, managing a chronic disease such as diabetes requires daily monitoring and self treatment. Knowing that a patient can afford the medications and supplies is an important part of treating the disease.”

Richard Sagall, MD, president of NeedyMeds.org says DynaMed’s willingness to partner with NeedyMeds and provide this important information to patients lets people know that help is out there before they even need to think about whether they can afford the medication. “There are thousands of programs currently available to help people save money on prescription medications—patient assistance programs, free and low cost clinics, programs geared to specific diseases and conditions and state programs. Letting clinicians know about them and share them right at the point-of-care in a resource like DynaMed makes it more likely that patients will find out that there is help available. These programs become a part of the conversation between doctors and patients rather than something patients need to find on their own.” NeedyMeds has information on 2,400 programs to assist people with the cost of their prescriptions, co-pays and premiums and other disease-related expenses.

DynaMed is a clinical reference tool created by physicians for physicians and other health care professionals for use primarily at the point-of-care— providing the best available evidence for making informed clinical decisions. With clinically-organized summaries for thousands of topics and daily updates, DynaMed is the only evidence-based reference shown to answer most clinical questions during practice.

Most of the current assistance programs require US residency, but non-US programs can be added to DynaMed as the information becomes available.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator, offering a suite of nearly 300 full-text and secondary research databases. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all medical professionals (doctors, nurses, medical librarians, social workers, hospital administrators, etc.). The company’s product lines include proprietary databases such as CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™, Patient Education Reference Center™, Rehabilitation Reference Center™, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine Source™ and SocINDEX™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases such as MEDLINE®, PsycARTICLES® and PsycINFO®. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world. For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com.

About NeedyMeds.org
NeedyMeds is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit with the mission of helping people who cannot afford medicine or health care costs. The mission of NeedyMeds has been, since its inception, to make information about assistance programs available to low-income patients and their advocates at no cost. The website, NeedyMeds.org, is the face of the organization. Databases such as Patient Assistance Programs and Disease-Based Assistance, government programs and other types of assistance programs are the crux of the free information NeedyMeds offers online. In response to the growing needs of advocates and patients, NeedyMeds recently added a free clinics database to its website and started an online forum, NeedyMeds Forums, for patient advocates.

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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Manager
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com