Workers’ compensation payers saw an average 11 percent reduction in their pharmacy spend in 2016, driven by a 13.3 percent reduction in opioid cost, according to an annual survey by pharmacy benefit manager CompPharma.
CompPharma’s 14th Annual Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Compensation analyzed pharmacy cost data from 2016 of 23 workers’ compensation insurance carriers, third-party administrators, self-insured employers and state funds.
Total workers’ compensation annual pharmacy spend is approximately $3.6 to $4.1 billion, according to the report.
Survey results indicate drug costs have fallen in five of the last seven years; the spend today is 22 percent lower than it was seven years ago.
Written by Insurance Journal
