Centers help patients with medical care

Local medical centers are offering financial assistance to offset the cost of prescription drugs and medical care.

Nassau University Medical Center has inaugurated three medication-assistance programs that allow patients access to prescription drugs at low to no cost. The programs are for anyone who can't afford prescribed medication and is not limited to those on government assistance.

"These programs are for our patients," said Marcelle Levy-Santoro, NUMC's director of pharmacy. "But if someone wants to become one of our patients, that's OK."

One of the three programs, Levy-Santoro said, is called Sample MD, which provides coupons to obtain free prescription medications. The coupons can be redeemed for drugs needed for periods ranging from seven days to a month's supply.

"Sample MD is a virtual medication cabinet," Levy-Santoro said. "We don't have [drug] samples in the institutions any more, but the samples are still available and this is one way patients can have access to them whether they are insured or uninsured."

For insured patients, the coupons can reduce out-of-pocket co-pays, which often accompany prescription medication costs, Levy-Santoro said.

Earlier this summer, NUMC began a collaboration with Walgreens called the Walgreens/340B program, part of a federal drug-pricing program. It's designed to help people of all ages, including those on Medicare. For Medicare recipients, the program assists those in the so-called doughnut hole, or gap in Medicare Part D coverage.

A third program, called the Patient Assistance Program, helps people obtain medications directly through pharmaceutical companies. So far, Levy-Santoro said, NUMC has been able to procure $600,000 in free medications for patients.

She hopes the programs will eventually help upward of 2,000 NUMC patients annually.

The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit medical policy organization in Manhattan, notes that millions of people nationwide are losing health care coverage at alarming rates. Job loss sometimes leads to skipping needed medications, even vital ones, policy analysts found.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System has had a financial assistance program in place since 2004, aiding patients unable to pay physicians' fees and hospital expenses. The program does not assist with prescription drug costs.

Still, it aids families earning up to five times the federal poverty level, or an income of slightly more than $110,000 annually. The program is available to eligible patients at any of the system's facilities on Long Island and New York City.

"All of us have been hit by spiraling gas prices and higher property taxes, bridge tolls, food costs and other day-to-day expenses," said Michael J. Dowling, North Shore-LIJ's president and chief executive.

"But for uninsured families that have a loved one in need of medical care, the financial burden of hospital and doctors' bills can be devastating."

"Establishing a sliding-fee scale based on patients' incomes, family size and ability to pay," Dowling said, "is a more equitable and humane billing practice."