“In the U.S. we pay comparatively much more for prescription drugs than other countries, an increasing concern for all Americans,” ACP President Wayne Riley, MD, said in a statement. “The impact of these rising costs can be very detrimental to patients, causing them to forgo filling important prescriptions or not taking drugs on the schedule that they are prescribed.”
Seven out of 10 Americans take at least one prescription drug, according to the paper, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and about 18 percent of the costs are paid out-of-pocket by consumers. However, many cannot afford these costs, leading nearly 8 percent to forgo medication, 15 percent to ask for a lower-cost medication, 1.6 percent to purchase drugs internationally and more than 4 percent to seek alternative therapies, according to ACP.
While much goes into drug pricing — including research, development and regulatory costs — these prices are elastic, while the demand for prescription medication is not, according to the ACP.
The group issued the following seven recommendations to address the issue.
1. Pharmaceutical companies should be transparent in the pricing, cost and comparative value of their products and disclose actual material, production, research and development costs that go into the price of a drug.
2. Eliminate restrictions on the use of quality-adjusted life-years to measure the value of research funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
3. ACP recommended a trio of approaches to help address the increasing costs of medications, including allowing Medicare to negotiate bulk discounts on drugs, establishing a process to reimport certain drugs manufactured in the U.S., and putting in place policies or programs to increase competition within the pharmaceutical industry.
4. Market or data exclusivity periods should not be extended beyond current standards.
5. More research is needed on approaches that encourage value-based decision making, including value frameworks, bundled payments, indication-specific pricing and evidence-based benefit designs within a health plan’s benefit package.
6. Payers that use tiered prescription drug formularies must ensure patient cost-sharing for specialty drugs is not set at a level that creates an economic barrier for patients to obtain medications, particularly for low income patients.
7. Drug policy should aim to limit confusion for patients between originator and biosimilar products.
For more details on ACP’s recommendation see the Annals of Internal Medicine report.
More articles on finance:
$567M expansion approved for MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Tampa General to hold topping off ceremony for 1st outpatient medical center
2 years after Mass. hospital closes, group calls for restoration of full-service facility
