Making prescription costs clearer to improve care for chronic conditions
Evaluating an Intervention to Improve Medication Access and Quality of Care for Patient Populations With Chronic Conditions
This project puts real-time out-of-pocket drug price information into doctors' electronic records to help people with asthma, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, or depression get medicines they can afford.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Harvard University D/b/a Harvard School of Public Health NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11089520 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would see your clinician get real-time information about what a medicine would cost you at the pharmacy inside the electronic health record. Researchers will compare prescribing, patient out-of-pocket spending, and medication use before and after the cost tool is used across outpatient clinics. The work focuses on people with asthma, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, or depression and pays special attention to Black, Hispanic/Latino, and rural patients who often face higher cost-related underuse. The team will track whether showing cost information leads to more lower-cost, guideline-recommended medicines and fewer gaps in treatment.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are people receiving outpatient care for asthma, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, or depression, especially Black, Hispanic/Latino, or rural patients at clinics using the cost tool.
Not a fit: Patients who do not receive care at participating clinics, who use pharmacies or insurance that do not connect to the tool, or whose medications lack lower-cost alternatives may not experience benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lower what patients pay for medicines, increase use of effective low-cost options, and reduce preventable worsening of chronic conditions.
How similar studies have performed: This builds on early implementations of real-time benefit tools at health systems like UCHealth and growing Medicare support, but large-scale evidence on patient impact remains limited.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Harvard University D/b/a Harvard School of Public Health — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sinaiko, Anna D — Harvard University D/b/a Harvard School of Public Health
- Study coordinator: Sinaiko, Anna D
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.