While migraine drugs make up less than 1% of prescriptions, they now make up 7.5% of drug spend, primarily driven by CGRP drugs.
While migraine drugs make up less than 1% of prescriptions, they now make up 7.5% of drug spend, primarily driven by CGRP drugs.
Pharmaceutical requests represented 30.6% of all treatment requests submitted for IMR, a modest decline from 32.7% in 2024.
Dermatological agents remained a significant cost driver, in part due to physician dispensing and delivery pharmacies, which accounted for a significant number of high-cost transactions.
Prescription drug list prices increased 23% in the last year, far outpacing inflation.
While opioid utilization has decreased, overall spend on pain management has increased, in part due to the use of high-cost topical medications.
While this drug class represents less than 1% of prescriptions, it accounted for 3.4% of drug spend.
The meeting discussed proton pump inhibitors and the need to review utilization, and future meetings will address GLP-1 drugs, migraine drugs, and more.
The report classifies distinct subgroups of injectable by medication type and identifies those most common in workers’ comp.
The report includes recommendations for providers, and the findings could impact rules around prescribing, utilization review, and service delivery.
Drug classes with the most new, high-priced drugs were anti-cancer drugs, ADHD/anti-obesity drugs, and anti-inflammatory pain medications.
Pharmacy service costs fell 40% - or $28 million dollars – from 2018 through 2023.
This report reviews drug payments between 2012 and 2022, reviewing usage and cost, generics, opioids, and topicals.
The reports analyze trends in payments, prices, and medical care utilization across 17 states from 2017-2022.
Drug payments increased eight-fold since 2018.
Key highlights from a WCRI webinar include prescription payment trends, with notable attention on dermatological agents.
