San Diego, CA – Enlyte recently released the fourth portion of its Mitchell Pharmacy Solutions Drug Trends Series Report, which analyzes the state of pharmacy trends in workers’ comp.
In part four of the series, Mitchell explores trends in “High Impact Classes” including drug categories like topicals, compound kits, combo packs, and specialty medications, which represent proportionately low utilization, but can be associated with exponentially higher costs.
Key highlights included:
- Topical and specialty classes accounted for a higher percentage of total cost in 2021. While usage of opioids and compounds continues to decrease, topicals and specialty medications accounted for a slightly higher share in 2021.
- In 2021, the number of injured workers using topical medications rose 4.7% to 15.2%. This rise combined with overall increases in topical scripts and costs confirmed a continued rising trend experienced over the last 3 years.
- A slight decrease in Rx Topical scripts per claim in 2021 was offset by increases in cost per script, while increasing utilization and cost per script of PLTAs in 2021 has led to rising costs per claim.
- Combo packs experienced declines in scripts and cost in 2021, however, the inflated cost associated with such products, averaging $2,100 per script in 2021, highlights the importance of continued vigilance regardless of the relatively small volume of total scripts they represent.
- 4 of the top 5 specialty disease conditions (by cost) had double-digit increases in cost per claim from 2021 to 2022. 4% of all claims are using specialty drugs (a 11.1% increase from 2020) typically used to manage complex, chronic conditions with significant costs.
Read the free report: Enlyte: Mitchell Pharmacy Solutions Drug Trends Series Report, Part 4
Source: Enlyte
Disclosure:
Enlyte is a WorkCompWire ad partner.
This is NOT a paid placement.