How I Saved My Patient $53 per Month

She came to me for a refill for metoprolol succinate (Toprol XL) at $60.61 for 50 tablets (slower release, taken once daily). Note that the linked webpage does not offer a generic equivalent suggestion, even though this one exists:

Metoprolol tartrate $7.18 for 100 tablets (25 mg are taken twice daily)

With all the fancy smancy multi-million dollar electronic medical record and e-prescribing systems out there, the ability of these systems to suggest cheaper drugs for our patients should be requirement for systems going forward. I'm willing to bet most patients wouldn't mind taking a pill twice a day if it saved them over $600 per year.

-Wes