Publishing drug prices impacts consumers less when out-of-pocket costs are specified

Researchers found millions of heart failure patients who qualify for standard, guideline directed medical therapies, but did not receive it due to poor health literacy, limited access to care and medication costs.

Mandating pharmaceutical companies to disclose drug prices as part of Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising (DTCPA) may reduce consumer interest in high-priced drugs. But the inclusion of modifiers indicating consumers will have zero out-of-pocket costs weakened the finding, according to the results of a behavioral experiment published in JAMA Internal Medicine.