St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy Enrolls In AZ&Me Prescription Savings Program For Healthcare Facilities
Wilmington, DE – AstraZeneca announced recently that it will provide free medication to St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy in Cincinnati, under one of the company's prescription savings programs.
The AZ&Me Prescription Savings program for healthcare facilities provides medicines free of charge to charitable pharmacies, community free clinics, community health centers, hospitals and other qualifying facilities that serve the uninsured. This enables patients to quickly get the medicines they need, often at the same place they receive their medical care.
Although the Cincinnati St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy (SVDP) has been assisting the uninsured and underinsured for just under two years, it has succeeded in helping 1,512 people receive the medicines and pharmaceutical care they struggle to afford. The only completely free charitable pharmacy in southeast Ohio, SVDP dedicates its efforts to helping the working poor, those who have lost their jobs and those experiencing a gap in their coverage. SVDP continues to grow each month by as much as 20 percent.
"AstraZeneca is committed to helping people who have difficulty affording their medication. We believe it is our responsibility to not only make medicines that improve quality of life, but also to provide an easier way for those in need to get the medicines they need." said Karissa Laur, Director, Patient Assistance Programs, AstraZeneca. "Last year, AstraZeneca provided nearly $20M in savings to nearly 18,000 people in Ohio, and we are looking forward to working with the St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy to help even more people."
"There are 1.2 million uninsured adults in Ohio. St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy is dedicated to helping people who are unable to afford needed medicine," said Liz Carter, Executive Director of SVDP. "The uninsured routinely go without screenings and preventive care and often make difficult choices between purchasing life-saving medications and paying their food rent, or utility bills. Our partnership with AstraZeneca will help provide solutions to our area's residents to directly deliver access to medications that are critical to their health."
The AZ&Me Prescription Savings program for healthcare facilities is available to non-profit organizations that have a licensed outpatient pharmacy or dispensary on site and meet other program criteria. Patients are eligible for AstraZeneca medicines through this program if they do not have prescription drug coverage and have a household income at or below $30,000 for an individual, or $60,000 for a family of four.
Through the AZ&Me Prescription Savings program for healthcare facilities, AstraZeneca is planning to provide free medicines to approximately 250 facilities by the end of 2008. With this program, AstraZeneca expands on its 30-year history of helping patients afford the medicines they need. In 2006, for example, AstraZeneca expanded eligibility for the AZ&Me Prescription Savings program for people without insurance to $60,000 for a family of four, or $30,000 for an individual, and also launched the first retail-based assistance program for people with Medicare Part D.
SOURCE: AstraZeneca