Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features CWCI’s recent release of the first in a series of new research reports that examine low-volume/high-cost drugs used to treat injured workers in California.
The first report spotlights a handful of anti-inflammatory and anticonvulsant medications that account for a relatively small share of the prescriptions within their therapeutic drug groups, but that have become significant cost drivers by consuming a disproportionately large share of the payments. The report notes that ibuprofen and naproxen represented 2/3 of anti-inflammatories dispensed in 2021, but with average payments of $12 and $49 respectively, were relatively cheap. Conversely, drugs like fenoprofen calcium ($1,479), and ketoprofen ($1,073) kept anti-inflammatories at the top of the list in terms of total drug spend, representing 1.4% of 2021 anti-inflammatory prescriptions but a whopping 33.2% of payments (fenoprofen), and 0.6% of the prescriptions but 9.8% of payments (ketoprofen).