Workers’ Comp Drug Spend Continues to Drop
Workers’ Comp Drug Spend Continues to Drop, According to CompPharma’s 14th Annual Survey of Prescription Drug Management
MAGGIE VALLEY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CompPharma’s 14th Annual Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Compensation showed an average 11 percent reduction in payers’ pharmacy spend, driven by a 13.3 percent reduction in opioid cost. The survey analyzed the 2016 pharmacy cost data of 23 workers’ compensation insurance carriers, third-party administrators, self-insured employers, and state funds.Working with their pharmacy benefit managers, payers cut one of every six dollars in opioid spend, which the report called a “truly remarkable result.” In contrast, across all payer types, pain medication use declined by a scant 1 percent (Quintiles IMS).“Clearly the efforts of workers’ comp regulators, payers, desk-level staff, PBMs and prescribers have paid off,” said Joseph Paduda, president of CompPharma, LLC. “While we have much left to do, this represents a dramatic improvement in the lives of thousands of patients.”Payers are far from complacent, with all respondents expressing grave concerns about the risk of opioid addiction or dependency. Most are continuing to refine and improve programs to help patients address pain while minimizing use of opioids, relying on physician and/or pharmacist review of claims, early identification of potentially risky prescribing, and increased use of drug testing.In contrast, compound drug utilization and spend has dropped dramatically and is no longer of great concern to payers.A complimentary copy of the 2016 survey can be downloaded from https://tinyurl.com/CP2017RxSurvey.
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