Prescriber Checkup

Prescriber Checkup

The Doctors and Drugs in Medicare Part D

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Prescriber Checkup » North Carolina » Raleigh

CHRISTOPHER SCHWARZ MD

2601 LAKE DR STE 201

Raleigh | North Carolina | 27607

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At A Glance: This Prescriber in 2015

Gastroenterology

Self-Reported Primary Specialty

See Other Prescribers With This Specialty in This State »

1,915Medicare Part D Prescriptions Filled, Including Refills

Rank: 44 out of 338

$220K Total Retail Price of All Prescriptions

Rank: 203 out of 338

628 Patients Receiving at Least One Drug in Part D
92% Patients 65 Years and Older

9% Subsidized Claims for Low-Income Patients

How Does This Prescriber Compare to Peers?

In the same specialty and state. Caveats »

Drugs That Present Special Risks
Costs of Prescribing
higher than average Average for
this specialty
in North Carolina lower than average

Antipsychotics

0% of this provider’s 580 patients who are 65 and older filled at least one prescription for an antipsychotic drug, compared to an average of 0%.

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Antibiotics

2% of this provider’s 628 patients filled at least one prescription for an antibiotic drug, compared to an average of 7%.

More resources »

Risky Drugs for Seniors

This provider prescribed potentially inappropriate drugs to at least one but fewer than 11 patients who are 65 and older, so Medicare redacted the exact figure. Comparisons are not shown.

More resources »

Opioids

This provider prescribed opioids to at least one but fewer than 11 patients, so Medicare redacted the exact figure. Comparisons are not shown.

More resources »

Brand Name Drugs *

31% of this provider’s prescriptions were for brand-name drugs, compared to an average of 33%.

* This is an estimate, see our methodology.

Prescription Price

$115 was the average price of a prescription from this provider, compared to $644 among peers.

Prescriptions per Patient

3 is the average number of prescriptions (including refills) per patient, compared to an average of 4.


How This Provider’s Patients Compare

Doctors often say their patients are sicker or more complex than those of their peers. The measure displayed below, used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, takes into account patients’ characteristics to estimate whether they are expected to have above-average Medicare spending. It considers patients’ age, sex, diagnoses from the past year and other factors. This provider’s score below takes into account all patients.

This Provider's History

A comparison of this provider’s prescribing in Part D since 2012. All years may not be shown if there is insufficient data.

Cost of Claims

$78.4K

2012

$179K

2013

$219K

2014

$220K

2015

Number of Claims

1,185

2012

1,666

2013

1,755

2014

1,915

2015

This Prescriber's Drugs

The table below list this provider’s drugs, the number of prescriptions and how many went to seniors. Drugs are ranked by volume and compared with the rank for all providers in the same specialty and state. The list below includes only those drugs for which this provider wrote 50 or more prescriptions.

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O

An opioid drug. More » Prescription opioids (painkillers) can help alleviate certain kinds of pain in the short term but carry serious health risks.

A

An antibiotic drug. More » Used to treat bacterial infections but are often prescribed incorrectly to treat viral infections, such as chest colds or the flu.

P

An antipsychotic drug. More » Antipsychotics are frequently given to dementia patients, though it increases their risk of death.

R

A risky drug for seniors. More » The American Geriatrics Society has said this drug is "potentially dangerous" for seniors and might be inappropriate.

10

This provider is among the top 10 prescribers of this drug in the country.

This provider’s prescriptions for this drug were for more days than those of peers. More » Because of this, his or her prescription count may be lower.

This provider’s prescriptions for this drug were for fewer days than those of peers. More » Because of this, his or her prescription count may be higher.

This Drug's Rank
Drug Name Total Prescriptions Filled with Refills Prescriptions
to 65+ 		Patients Receiving this Drug Category For this Prescriber For this Prescriber's Peers
METOCLOPRAMIDE HCL

Metoclopramide is used to r... +

Metoclopramide is used to relieve heartburn and speed the healing of ulcers and sores in the esophagus (tube that connects the mouth to the stomach) in people who have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD; condition in which backward flow of acid from the stomach causes heartburn and injury of the esophagus) that did not get better with other treatments. Source: National Library of Medicine

444

prescriptions, 23% of all prescriptions

 417

prescriptions.

 440

patients, 70% of all patients

 1 15
OMEPRAZOLE

Treats heartburn, stomach u... +

Treats heartburn, stomach ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and conditions that cause your stomach to make too much acid, such as Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, endocrine tumors, and systemic mastocytosis. Source: National Library of Medicine

354

prescriptions, 18% of all prescriptions

 316

prescriptions.

 79

patients, 13% of all patients

 2 1
PANTOPRAZOLE SODIUM

Pantoprazole is used to tre... +

Pantoprazole is used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition in which backward flow of acid from the stomach causes heartburn and possible injury of the esophagus (the tube between the throat and stomach). Source: National Library of Medicine

164

prescriptions, 9% of all prescriptions

 149

prescriptions.

 24

patients, 4% of all patients

 3 2
GAVILYTE-N

This is used to cleanse th... +

This is used to cleanse the colon (bowel) before a medical test (eg, colonoscopy). Source: National Library of Medicine

95

prescriptions, 5% of all prescriptions

 90

prescriptions.

 94

patients, 15% of all patients

 4 10
MOVIPREP 91

prescriptions, 5% of all prescriptions

 91

prescriptions.

 90

patients, 14% of all patients

 5 12
PEG 3350-ELECTROLYTE* 90

prescriptions, 5% of all prescriptions

 85

prescriptions.

 89

patients, 14% of all patients

 6 13
SUPREP

Used to cleanse of the colo... +

Used to cleanse of the colon in preparation for colonoscopy. Source: National Library of Medicine

72

prescriptions, 4% of all prescriptions

 67

prescriptions.

 71

patients, 11% of all patients

 7 3
About This Data

Prescribing data from Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, known as Part D, was compiled and released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees the program. The data for 2015 includes more than 1.4 billion prescriptions written by nearly 1.4 million doctors, nurses and other providers. This database lists about 447,000 of those providers who wrote 50 or more prescriptions for at least one drug that year. More than three-fourths of these prescriptions went to patients 65 and older; the rest were for disabled patients. Methodology »

Incorrect Info?

If you are a provider and you believe your address is incorrect, check the listing you created on the National Provider Identifier registry. If you change your listing, send a note to [email protected] and we will update your information. If you have other questions about this data, send a note to [email protected].

Caveats
  • No comparisons are shown if there are fewer than 20 prescribers in the state share this specialty.
  • Comparisons do not take into account the medical conditions of patients. Medications for certain conditions do not have generic alternatives, so patients would receive more expensive brand name drugs.
  • This provider's address and specialty information was last updated on Jan. 29, 2009.
  • Comparisons are based on each provider’s current address, not necessarily where he or she worked during the time period covered in this database.
  • In rare circumstances, providers' prescription tallies may be inflated. Sometimes providers are credited with prescriptions written by colleagues (this happens in long-term care facilities) or are victims of fraud involving theft of their provider number.