University of Minnesota/University of Puerto Rico: Practice Based Learning Collaborative: Sacramento to Lead National Effort to Educate Consumers about Prescription Drug Prices; Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs Pilot Project Launched in California

April 18, 2005

Sacramento to Lead National Effort to Educate Consumers about Prescription Drug Prices; Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs Pilot Project Launched in California

4/18/2005 3:02:00 PM

To: Business and Health Editor

Contact: Carri Cummings, 916-341-0472; 916-502-1131 (cell) or carri@zieglerassociates.net; Susan Herold of Consumers Union, 202-462-6262

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Sacramento regional leaders today launched an ambitious effort to get free information on the cost and effectiveness of prescription drugs into the hands of consumers -- especially seniors, low income residents and the uninsured -- to help Californians stretch their health care dollars in an era of spiraling drug prices.

The information is provided by Consumer Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumers Reports, through its innovative Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs program. The grant-funded project is a pioneering effort to provide consumers with information in one place on the safety, effectiveness and costs of prescription drugs. Currently, the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs evaluations are available only on the Web at http://www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org. But pilot projects in Sacramento and Atlanta will determine how to get printed copies of the materials into the hands of those without Internet access.