The Veterans Health Administration awarded national purchasing contracts for the H2RAs to: cimetidine and famotidine. Our patients were taking ranitidine but were switched to one of the two contracted agents. The conversion process was performed by a pharmacist via local protocol. Patients were contacted by phone and mailed a handout explaining the rationale for the medication switch. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate how patients feel concerning their new H2RA and the way we informed them of the conversion. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a "generic drug conversion" patient satisfaction questionnaire was mailed to 295 patients converted to either cimetidine (53 patients) or famotidine (242 patients). RESULTS: There were 181 returned questionnaires, 61.3% total response rate. Patient responses were as follows: 69.4% answered that their new H2RA works the same or better than ranitidine; 16.4% answered that their new H2RA had more side effects/problems than ranitidine; 80.4% answered that the conversion process was clearly explained to them; 13.3% of patients contacted the VA concerning their new H2RA medication; 76.4% answered that the way they were informed of the conversion was good to excellent. The only difference found, after subgroup analysis, was that 48.2% of the cimetidine patients subjectively rated it to work worse than ranitidine, vs. 27.1% of the famotidine patients, using their own criteria (Chi-square, P<0.028; OR 2.51). CONCLUSIONS: The data suggests that the majority of the patients believe their new H2RA works well for them and are satisfied with the conversion process. Of the patients who rated their new H2RA to work worse than ranitidine there is a 2.51 times greater chance that they were taking cimetidine as compared to patients whose H2RA worked worse than ranitidine and were taking famotidine.