Medicare Coverage of Tumor Necrosis Factor a Inhibitors as an Influence on Physicians' Prescribing Behavior.

The article looks into the medical coverage of tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitors as an influential factor on the prescribing behavior of physicians. Significantly, the application of etanercept or infliximab on the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been analyzed. Furthermore, the analyses of patient demographic and disease characteristics were conducted to characterize predictors of the biologic drug prescribed. The author points out that differential drug coverage has an impact on patient care and health care costs.