Study: Doctors' Refusal to Prescribe Generic Medications Costing Medicare Millions

According to a new analysis from ProPublica, Medicare is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars every year because a relatively small number of doctors refuse to allow expensive name-brand medications to be substituted with less-pricey generics.

The researchers found that just 913 doctors, including internists, family medicine and general practice physicians cost Medicare an extra $300 million in 2011 by disproportionately prescribing name-brand drugs. The doctors each wrote at least 5,000 prescriptions per year, including refills.

ProPublica also found that 48 percent of these doctors had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry and received at least $1,000 for speaking, consulting and other promotional purposes.

There's can be a vast difference between the price of a name-brand drug and a generic. Crestor, for example, costs more than $6 per pill while its leading generic costs as little as 20 cents.

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