North Carolina Rural Health Research Policy Analysis Center. Sole Community Pharmacies and Part D Participation: Implications for Rural Residents.

摘要

The Medicare Part D Drug Plan (Part D), which was implemented on January 1, 2006, allows Medicares 44 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries to join a private Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) or join a Medicare Advantage Plan that provides supplemental health insurance with a prescription drug benefit. Under the Part D program, beneficiaries can choose between multiple competing PDPs. This choice affects not only the insurance costs and benefits, but also the pharmacies that beneficiaries can use in order to have their prescription purchase covered by the PDP, as each pharmacy decides with which of the many available PDPs they will contract.