Using drug prescribing patterns to identify stewards of cost-conscious care

Purpose: to characterize family physicians (fps) who are stewards of care by consistently prescribing omeprazole over esomeprazole. methods: cross-sectional analysis of physicians prescribing omeprazole or esomeprazole under medicare part d in 2014. results: there was a regional trend with 49% of western fps but only 6% of southern fps rarely prescribing esomeprazole. physicians had increased odds of being a steward if they worked with a care coordinator (p < .001),at a patient-centered medical home (p < .001),or in a large practice (p < .001). conclusions: if these findings are replicated across multiple drugs,future outreach could be conducted based on provider prescribing patterns.