Growth Rate of Spending on Medicine Slows

The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science recently released a report focused on net spending on medicines in the United States in 2017, with an outlook to 2022. The report notes that spending on medicines grew less than one percent in 2017 – just a mere 0.6 percent. The report further found that the level and growth of spending, the price of new and old drugs, and the allocation of costs among patients, employers, health plans, intermediaries, and state and federal agencies, all “command great attention,” and therefore, the report aims to provide an “objective measure of medicine use” and the cost prescriptions have on our healthcare system. Overall Figures Total spending on medicines grew by 0.6% in 2017, after off-invoice discounts and rebates. This includes all types of medicines, including institutional use for inpatients and outpatients. If we were to solely focus on retail and mail-order pharmacy distribution, net spending actually declined by 2.1%. Further, if we were to adjust for manufacturer discounts and rebates, as well as economic and population growth, medicine spending also declined, on a per capita basis, by 2.2% in 2017. Overall, medicine spending has tended to shift from traditional treatments to specialty medicines. Interestingly, the report states that pharmacy prices for brand prescriptions increased by 58% over the past five years while the final out-of-pocket costs for all prescriptions declined by 17%. This is a perfect illustration of ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs