Mail-order pharmacies take larger percentage of prescriptions dispensed
February 22, 2008
More Americans are getting their prescription drugs from mail-order pharmacies.
More than 13% of patients received prescriptions dispensed by mail-order pharmacies in 2005, according to an analysis by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The growth in proportion of mail-order prescriptions occurred even as the total number of patients increased significantly. In 2005, 187 million non-institutionalized people filled prescriptions, up from 173 million in 2000. The survey considered patients who filled at least one prescription at a mail-order, drugstore, or other type of pharmacy when compiling its data.
