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PMSI: Narcotics use among injured workers drops in 2011
The use of narcotics among workers' comp claimants with an injury that was one year old or less has decreased, according to a new report.
PMSI says that was a contributing factor to the overall 1.7 percent decrease in the use of narcotic analgesics among its client companies, as measured by morphine equivalents per injured worker per day. The information is included in the pharmacy benefit management company's 2012 Annual Drug Trends Report. It is based on data from 5.1 million retail and mail-order transactions and represents approximately $750 million worth of in-network spend.
The other major factor was the drop from 59 percent to 57 percent of injured workers using narcotic analgesics in the first year after injury. "This is really showing us that there is a change in prescribing patterns and a very positive change in narcotic utilization," said Maria Sciame, executive director of clinical services for PMSI. "This is a very good story." The company also reports overall pharmacy spend increased by 3.2 percent in 2011, driven by price increases. The company notes the rate of increase for the average wholesale price was 6.3 percent. The report also said the average mail-order cost per day of supply was about 21 percent less than the average retail cost per day of supply. The brand to generic differential increased by 2 percent from 2010 to 2011, while PMSI's generic efficiency increased by 2.4 percent. "For every 1 percent increase in generic efficiency, we see there is a 1.5 percent reduction in the spend," Sciame said. Read more at the WorkersComp Forum homepage. April 30, 2012 Copyright 2012© LRP Publications |
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