Friday, 17 February 2012

Doctors quoting medicine prices to patients?

This is what I want to do to myself when
Doctors quote medicine prices to patients
(Courtesy of Erik Johansson)
This is a sincere plea. Please do not quote non-funded medicine prices from MIMS drug reference to patients. It will be like me telling the patients (who ask me how much the Dr visits cost) that they will only need to pay $10 for a 45min consultation. I will put on my captain obvious hat and construct the directional flow of a drug below:
                         
                     Markup + GST                           Markup + GST                           Markup + GST
Manufacturer        ==>        Wholesaler       ==>          Retailer            ==>           Patients
(Pfizer, GSK etc.)                                                         (ME!)
                             (1)                                 (2)                                    (3)


If you quote from MIMS, you are quoting (1), which as you can see is no where near (3). Surprisingly, I come off as the douche-bag to the patients because I am perceived as the big pharma trying to rip them off (which I find really hard to do seeing as the Dr's quote is less than my cost price!)

So please, give the pharmacy down the road a quick call, hell, I'll even give you my personal number if you email me here.

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