Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new FlashReport from WCRI that found that payments for dermatological agents have continued to increase, driven by increased dispensing of higher-priced drug products either from physicians’ offices or from mail-order pharmacies.
The report, Interstate Variation and Trends in Workers’ Compensation Drug Payments: 2018Q1 to 2021Q1, examines state trends for non-COVID-19 claims, focusing on the share of all prescription payments (“payment share”) in a particular quarter accounted for by various drug groups, and the quarterly payment for each drug group per claim with prescriptions (“per-claim payment”). Key findings included that for dermatological agents there was substantial variation in per-claim payments, and payment shares for the drug group also increased by at least 10 percentage points in seven states. For the opioid drug group, despite continued decreases in dispensing, there was still large variation in payments per claim across states – for instance in Q1 2021 Louisiana saw $54 vs $3 in California.