Abstract:
Statin drugs are the most frequently prescribed drugs for dyslipidemia in Thailand. Substantial savings could be achieved by statin generic substitution. Regarding this, physicians are key people who can decide whether patients receive either a brand-name or generic drug. Understanding the preferences of physicians is essential for promoting generic drug prescription in the hospital. This study aims to use a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to examine 1)preference for generic statin drug prescription, 2) attitude towards generic drugs, and 3) the knowledge regarding the price of statin of family physicians at Ramathibodi Hospital. A cross-sectional survey using DCE was conducted. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to all family medicine physicians at the Department of Family Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital from July toAugust, 2014. According totheliterature review and expert opinions,the followingfour attributes were selected for DCE: prevention from Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and Framingham Risk Score, cost difference between statin original drug and generic drug per day, LDL cholesterol level and health insurance scheme. Nine choice sets were developed. Each choice set comprised two scenarios. For each choice set, physicians were asked For which scenario would you prescribe a generic statin drug?There was an overall response rate of 56.52% (26/46). In general, most family physicians in the study havea positive attitude towards generic drugs. Regarding knowledge of statin price, about 57.7% of physicians do not know the price of the statins. Regarding preferences for generic statin prescribing, the cost difference between the generic and brand name drug as well as the insurance scheme of the patients are associated with physicians decision to prescribe generic statin. It was found that physicians preferred to prescribe generic statin if there was a very high cost difference between the generic and original drug, as compared to low or high cost difference. In addition, physicians preferred to prescribe generic statin to self-pay patients more than CSMBS patients. To promote the use of generic substitution, a policy to support generic substitution should be developed and knowledge on drug prices should be provided.