Physician Switching After Drug Request Refusal

Abstract

Physician switching is a barometer of the quality of the relationship between a patient and a physician. Understanding the factors associated with physician switching in the context of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs has been largely unexamined. A total of 818 of 2,988 participants in a national telephone survey (27.4%) who had received DTCA reported asking their physician for a prescription drug, and 196 (24.0%) reported that their physician refused to prescribe the drug. Of those whose physicians refused, 13.9% (n = 27 of 194 with data) switched doctors. We found that individuals with regular medical-seeking behavior, full prescription drug coverage, with certain chronic conditions, and of African American origin were significantly more likely to switch physicians in this context.

KEYWORDS:

• minority Americans
• health care utilization
• switching physicians
• prescription drugs

Notes

Note. DTCA = direct-to-consumer advertising.

^a 5-point scale from 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor).

^a Of the 194 total sample, only 157 (23 switchers and 134 nonswitchers) were included in the regression model as some did not respond to the measured variables.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.