Patients like Helen Haney (center) are thankful for the financial relief provided by the Mid-Delta Health Systems Pharmaceutical Pantry. (Also pictured are Mid-Delta staff members Marla Henry, APN, and Dr. Donna-Marie Koroma.)

“For some people in rural areas, it’s a choice of whether they eat or pay bills or buy medicine.” Al Sliger, Executive Director of Mid-Delta Health Systems in Clarendon, has seen the toll that rising prescription drug costs take on the increasing number of uninsured and underinsured Arkansans served by the health center. “Access to medications is probably as important, if not more important, than medical care. We can see a patient every day, but if they can’t afford medication, we’re limited as to how much we can help them,” he said. Sliger estimated that patients diagnosed with common conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular disease may require as many as 6 to 12 prescription medications, which, he said, “can easily be up to $1,000 a month.”

For many patients, spending hundreds of dollars on medication is simply not an option. Instead, these individuals have to make tough choices that can further compromise their health. Some opt to take their medications only every other day; others take medications until they feel better and then discontinue use until they begin to feel ill again.

Last October, though, thanks to a start-up grant from ARCF’s affiliate the Monroe County Community Foundation (MCCF), Mid-Delta Health Systems unveiled a program that is significantly decreasing the burden of prescription drug costs for patients of the health center.

Sliger explained that as nonprofit community health center, Mid-Delta Health Systems (and nine other centers across the state) recently became eligible to purchase drugs at the federal government’s institutional pricing rate. Through a partnership with Polk Pharmacy of Clarendon, Mid-Delta purchases drugs at reduced rates and passes the savings on to patients on a sliding scale based on financial need.

The Pharmaceutical Pantry program is surprisingly simple for patients. Financial need is assessed on-site at the health center. Individuals whose income is up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (including those who qualify for Medicare or Medicaid and even individuals with some private insurance coverage) are eligible for reduced-rate medications through the program. In some cases, patients may pay as little as $10 per prescription, most of which covers the cost of the pharmacy’s dispensing fee.

Perhaps most importantly, the Pharmaceutical Pantry is essentially self-sustaining. Sliger explained that Monroe County Community Foundation’s start-up grant covered the cost of the initial three- to six-month stock. Now, as drugs are dispensed, the reduced fees patients pay go back into a fund from which the pharmacy is paid and new stock is ordered. Since Mid-Delta is able to purchase drugs at government-level institutional pricing, the savings have been impressive. “We anticipated that in the first four months of the program we’ve already saved $17,000 off the wholesale prices of the medications.” 

MCCF Executive Director Monica Lindley says the Foundation’s board of directors recognized the Pharmaceutical Pantry’s potential immediately: “The board saw this as a project that could sustain itself after the initial start-up money was provided. Healthcare and the cost of medicine is one of the largest concerns of all communities and seems to be an even larger problem in the Delta,” she remarked. “MCCF believed that this program would affect the community in a positive manner for many years to come.”

Thanks to MCCF’s support, the Pharmaceutical Pantry’s first few months have been a great success. “The local Community Foundation has been as strong partner to Mid-Delta Health over the years, and this is just the latest effort,” said Sliger.