OBJECTIVES To determine pharmacist opinion regarding the impact of Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit program (MPD) on patient care and evaluate their perceived confidence in knowledge regarding MPD. Further, the study assessed pharmacists and practice site characteristics with their opinion and confidence. METHODS A prospective cross sectional survey (September 2006 to January 2007) was conducted using a convenient sample of 450 community pharmacists located in Houston. A scale of 0 (low) to 100 (high) was used to measure perceived confidence consisting of 3 items. The instrument included 11 items on a 5 point Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) to measure pharmacists opinion on MPD namely, patient satisfaction, quality of care, reimbursement gap, prescription coverage, dual eligibility and plan selection. Descriptive statistics and comparative analyses were performed with the coded data using SAS® 9.1. RESULTS The response rate was 52% (n=232). Mean (± SD) age of respondents was (36.7 ±7.6) years, with 50.9% male, 56% staff pharmacist, 94% practicing in chain pharmacy, and 61.6% practicing for less than 10 years. Overall, pharmacists were confident (78 ±16.0) in their knowledge about MPD. Pharmacist's opinion in general was slightly positive (3.5 ±0.5) regarding the influence of MPD on patient care. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed by gender (male 82 vs. female75.4) and degree earned (BS 74 vs. PharmD 82.5) with respect to their confidence regarding MPD, respectively. Practice settings and pharmacist current positions did not seem to influence their confidence regarding MPD. Pharmacists perceived confidence was significantly correlated (p<0.05, r=0.414) with their opinion regarding patient care domains of MPD. CONCLUSIONS Pharmacist's characteristics play a role in their perceived confidence regarding their knowledge about MPD. Opinions regarding pharmacists on MPD aspects that would affect patient care were consistent across pharmacist characteristics and practice setting.