OBJECTIVES: To examine the influence of inexpensive generic programs on prescription medication acquisition behavior of patients.  METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of 200 consecutive patients during regularly scheduled appointments to an adult general medicine clinic.  Questions were asked to determine the type of pharmacy patients obtained their current prescription medication from; whether they were aware of focused programs selling generic medication for a reduced cost; whether they had filled a prescription recently using a reduced cost generic program, and if they did, whether they had other medications filled at the same pharmacy.  Demographic data was also obtained.  Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.   Respondents were categorized as having filled a prescription using an inexpensive generic program or not.  Differences in demographics and medication-related variables between the two groups were analyzed using Student’s t-test for continuous variables or Chi-squared test for categorical variables.  P value of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Only 5% of respondents (11 of 210) used an inexpensive generic program to fill at least one of their prescriptions.  Characteristics of patients who tended to use the generic programs included greater number of prescriptions, lower household income, no prescription insurance, and be of female gender.  The study is limited in generalizability due to the small number of respondents in the group who had a prescription filled by an inexpensive generic program. CONCLUSIONS: This small study provides encouraging data to support the development of a larger study of the influence of the generic programs on patient behavior in regards to decision of where to obtain prescriptions.  Larger studies may also attempt to determine whether these programs improve access to medications that patients may have had trouble affording before their inception.