Print“We think we’ve reached a tipping point, where people are thinking they’re paying too much and they’re changing their behavior.”
The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics reports in a new analysis of drug sales data that spending on prescription drugs in the United States was nearly flat in 2011 at $320 billion, or just .5 percent more than 2010 after adjusting for inflation and population growth.
Last year’s barely discernible increase of .5 percent continues a trend of more conservative spending that began in 2007 when prescription spending fell 0.2 percent. Prior to 2007, IMS had generally found spending increases of several percent.
But last year’s slowdown in prescription drug spending had much less to do with insufficient numbers of breakthrough medications—companies introduced more new drugs in 2011 than they had in a decade—and more to with a decline in the actual use of prescription drugs, particularly by seniors.
The institute found that patients aged 65 and older reduced their use of prescription drug usage by 3.1 percent last year. It also found that visits to doctors fell by 4.7 percent and hospital admissions fell .1 percent, both places where drugs are traditionally most often prescribed.
The report also cited a greater use of generics for the drop in prescription spending. Nearly 80 percent of dispensed prescriptions were generics and generic spending grew by $5.6 billion last year, according to IMS.
The only age group that increased prescription use last year was people aged 19 to 25, people who are now able to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans under a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That age group boosted their spending of prescription drugs by 2 percent last year.
Overall though, it seems that the U.S. population has grown intolerant of high prescription drug costs. “We think we’ve reached a tipping point, where people are thinking they’re paying too much and they’re changing their behavior,” says Michael Kleinrock, head of research development at the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.
Unfortunately, fewer visits to doctors and a concerted effort to use prescription drugs less may not bode well for future healthcare costs. Many medications that are prescribed today are taken for years to prevent chronic conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. “The ultimate result is that we will have more sick people driving healthcare costs,” says Kleinrock.
April 06, 2012
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-new_report_finds_prescription_drug_spending_flat.html
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