The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE - Limiting the number of free prescriptions for certain state Medicaid recipients appears to be holding down costs, according to an interim report.

The report to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget estimates $15 million to $35 million in reduced costs because of the eight-prescription-a-month limit.

Recipients affected by the monthly limit appear to be getting an average of two to four fewer prescriptions a month than they got before the change.

"In addition, there have been no reports that the policy has had any adverse impact on the health care of our recipients," Louisiana health department Secretary David Hood wrote as he forwarded the report to lawmakers.

The report reflects the first seven months of the prescription limit, one of the steps the health department is taking to slow the escalation of a Medicaid drug program that cost taxpayers $590 million last budget year. Costs are estimated to hit $654 million during the current budget year.

The health department projected a $20 million savings from the limit, which was opposed by drug companies and some doctors - even with changes that allow a doctor to override the limit in certain cases. The report shows the physician override is used in about 4 percent of the prescription claims paid.

Hood said the Medicaid prescription-drug program still is growing more rapidly than other programs. It would be growing even faster without the prescription limit and implementation of a preferred drug list, he said.

Approximately 850,000 people get free prescription medication through Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor. The drug limit affects 215,000 of them. People under age 21, those living in long-term care facilities and pregnant women are exempt from the limit.

Hood gave doctors credit for the program's success.

The health department's new Web-based program allows doctors and pharmacists to view a profile of all the drugs that have been prescribed and dispensed to a Medicaid recipient in a four-month period.

"Most of them are checking to see what medications their patient is on and reviewing the entire picture," Hood said. "Without that database, we would have to rely on the patient's memory."