Potential Obstacles in the Acquisition of Oral Anticancer Medications

Purpose:To determine the amount of time elapsed between prescriber order and patient receiving oral anticancer medication.Patients and Methods:Adult patients with a diagnosis of cancer were prospectively identified in three outpatient oncology clinics when oral anticancer agents were prescribed during a 4-month observation period. For each patient, time to obtain medication was analyzed by the following time points: date of prescription, date of submission to insurance, date prior authorization was obtained, date financial assistance was received, date prescription was processed by pharmacy, and date patient received medication. Out-of-pocket cost and time spent by clinic staff to facilitate the medication acquisition process were recorded.Results:Thirty-four patients were prescribed oral anticancer medication during the data collection period. For the 27 patients who were eligible for the primary end point, medication acquisition required a median of 10 days (range, 3 to 28 days). Overall, the rate-limit...