Board may bar pharmacists from cutting pills in half

Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

For the past several months patients have been required to cut pills in half as the result of a policy by Sierra Health Services. In an effort to lower costs, Sierra has required physicians to prescribe three popular drugs in higher than necessary doses. The policy covers two antidepressants, Zoloft and Celexa, and cholesterol reducer Lipitor.

Such cost-saving measures are necessary to keep insurance affordable, according to Sierra spokeswoman Jenny DesVaux Oakes.

"It's no secret to anyone that pharmaceutical costs are skyrocketing," she said.

Splitting pills can halve the price of some prescriptions. For example, a year's worth of Lipitor at 40 milligrams costs $665.52 at a local chain drugstore. In comparison, a year's worth of 20 milligram doses costs $1,078.08, according to Sierra.

Doctors, patients and pharmacists, on the other hand, protest that splitting pills is risky and untested medicine regardless of cost.

The new Pharmacy Board regulation, expected to be passed in December, would forbid pharmacists from dispensing prescriptions designed to be cut. The pharmacists instead would have to call the prescribing doctor who then would call Sierra to request a special waiver from the pill-splitting policy for every patient.

Some pills just won't split, so it's impossible to know if you're taking the right amount of medicine for your condition, said Sandra Sherlock, a 64-year-old member of Sierra's Health Plan of Nevada. She takes Lipitor.

Regardless whether tablets physically can be split, there's been no testing that says they will work properly that way, said Khanh B. Pham, president of the Southern Nevada Alliance of Pharmacists.