May 9, 2008
Did you know...?
Workers' Compensation Prescription Drug Costs Rose 12% in 2007
Annual workers' compensation pharmacy spending increased nearly 12% in 2007, mostly because of increased utilization, according to the 2008 Annual Drug Trends Report, recently released by PMSI.
The report identifies key areas where pharmacy benefit managers and payers should focus the majority of their mitigation efforts for optimal cost containment. It provides analysis of PMSI’s workers’ compensation database, including pharmacy transactions between 2003 and 2007. The survey analyzed 12 million transactions for nearly 1.5 million injured workers, totaling close to $1.3 billion dollars.
Recent reports from the National Council on Compensation Insurance have
demonstrated that pharmacy expenditures continue to increase both in total, and
as a percentage of combined medical costs. Current estimates indicate
pharmacy spending represents 12% of total medical costs in workers’
compensation.
The report revealed two of the primary drivers that impact total pharmacy spending: prescription price and prescription utilization. The NCCI Workers' Compensation Prescription Drug Study - 2007 Update indicates that utilization has a greater impact on prescription cost growth than price. Other key cost drivers analyzed include drug-usage trends, brand vs. generic utilization, price and utilization per drug class, pharmacy benefit manager influences and state trends including state fee schedules, generic utilization mandates and electronic billing and state reporting requirements.
Some of the key drug trends identified in the report include:
· Growth in spending increased from 8.67% in 2006 to 11.91% in 2007 per injured worker per year. The impact of price represented 39% of the increase, while utilization contributed 61%.
- Six medications accounted for 65% of total utilization increases.
- Medications used to manage pain account for greater than 70% of all pharmacy expenditures in workers' compensation.
- New brand medications in 2006 and 2007 contributed 2.54% to total pharmacy spending.
- Generic launches in 2007 resulted in a savings of 1.98%.
- Claim age increased 6% between 2006 and 2007 – from 5.26 years in 2006 to 5.59 years in 2007. (As the claim ages from the original date of injury, there is a greater use of medications attributable to both an increase in the type of medications taken and the longer duration of therapy.)
For the complete 2008 Annual Drug Trends Report, go to http://www.pmsionline.com.
*Please feel free to forward this information to any member of management in your company who would benefit from it.*
We now offer the Tip of the Week in Spanish. To view the Tip of the Week in Spanish please visit our Tip of the Week library at http://www.ohscompcare.com/totw/. Please allow a few days for the current Tip of the Week to be translated and placed in to the library.
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services OHS-COMPCARE has to offer, contact our Client Services
Team at (816) 561-2105 option 1 or by e-mail at customerservice@ohscompcare.com. You can also visit us at www.ohscompcare.com.
Why choose us? Because OHS-COMPCARE offers a Certified Drug and Alcohol Collector who will perform collections at the clinical facility, the employers worksite or at the designated Hospital Emergency Department.
OHS-COMPCARE has eight (8) area clinical facilities:
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Blue Springs Clinical Facility |
Independence Clinical Facility |
Johnson County Clinical Facility |
St. Joseph Clinical Facility |
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801 NW St. Mary’s Drive |
19000 E. Eastland Center Crt, St. 200 |
10415 Lackman Road |
904 Edmond Street |
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Blue Springs, MO 64104 |
Independence, MO 64055 |
Lenexa, KS 66219 |
St. Joseph, MO 64501 |
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816-224-9121 |
816-478-9299 |
913-495-9905 |
816-233-7702 |
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After Hours Available |
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KCMO/Broadway Clinical Facility |
KCMO/Front Street Clinical Facility |
Wyandotte County Clinical Facility |
Grandview Clinical Facility |
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1650 Broadway |
6501 East Commerce, Suite 110 |
1333 Meadowlark Lane, Suite 200 |
13830 S Us Highway 71 |
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Kansas City, MO 64108 |
Kansas City, MO 64120 |
Kansas City, KS 66102 |
Grandview, MO 64030 |
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816-842-2020 |
816-483-5550 |
913-596-2774 |
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