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Showing posts with label Physician dispensing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Physician dispensing. Show all posts

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Price of Vicodin Three Times More in Maryland and Pennsylvania When Dispensed by a Physician

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.claimsjournal.com


New studies from Cambridge-based Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) says the average price paid for physician-dispensed Vicodin, a commonly dispensed narcotic pain medication in Maryland and Pennsylvania, was three times more than the price paid for the same drug dispensed at a pharmacy ($1.46 versus $0.37 per pill in Maryland and $1.22 versus $0.37 per pill in Pennsylvania).

According to the studies, the average prices paid to physician-dispensers were often more than double the prices paid for the same drugs dispensed at a pharmacy. Issues related to physician dispensing in Maryland have been debated, but no change has been made.

Physician dispensing has been growing rapidly in Pennsylvania. In 2011, physicians dispensed 23 percent of workers’ compensation prescriptions and were paid 38 percent of what was spent for all prescriptions for injured workers. This was an increase from 17 percent of all prescriptions and 18 percent of total prescription costs three years earlier.

“In many states across the country, policymakers are debating whether doctors should be paid significantly more than pharmacies for dispensing the same drug,” said Dr. Richard Victor, WCRI’s executive director. “One question for policymakers is whether the large price difference paid when physicians dispense is justified by the benefits of physician dispensing.”

The Maryland  study found that prices paid to physician-dispensers for many common drugs...
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Friday, July 20, 2012

Workers Compensation Pharmaceuticals Targeted For Reform

Ritalin
Ritalin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An insurance based research organization, the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), has published a report concerning newly adopted State regulations limiting the prices paid for doctor-dispensed drugs (repackaging) and comparison costs between prescription medication and similar, less costly, over-the-counter (OTC) drug costs. WCRI also reports on the costs between brand-name drugs and generic prescriptions.

The study examines the results of a change to the California statute that has become a model for many other states. Critics of the regulations express concern that many patients will not get needed medications if they do not get them at the physicians’ offices.

The study, Physician Dispensing in Workers’ Compensation, examines physician dispensing before and after a 2007 change in the California statute that governed the prices paid to physician-dispensers. Prior to the statutory change, physicians typically charged much higher prices than pharmacies for the same medication. For example, for the most common drug, Vicodin®, physicians were paid $0.85 per pill compared to $0.43 for pharmacies—nearly double the price. After the reforms, physicians were paid $0.52 per pill compared to $0.48 for pharmacies. After the law changed, physicians were paid prices for prescription medications that were similar to those paid to pharmacies for the same medication.

This study finds that:

· physician-dispensed drugs became increasingly common in most states that permit physician dispensing;

· prices paid for physician-dispensed drugs were often substantially higher than if the same drugs were dispensed by a retail pharmacy;

· prices paid to dispensing physicians rose rapidly for medications that were commonly dispensed by physicians, while the prices paid to pharmacies for the same drugs changed little or fell.

One of the chief concerns expressed by supporters of physician dispensing (in California and in other states) was that doctors would stop dispensing needed prescriptions when it became less profitable. However, the California post-reform experience shows that physicians continued to dispense prescriptions, even when the prices paid were lower. Before the reforms, 55 percent of all prescriptions were dispensed at physician offices. Three years after the reforms, 53 percent of all prescriptions in California were physician-dispensed so patients had similar access to physician dispensed medications, but at a much lower cost.

Robert Ceniceros, a reporter for Business Insurance, reported, "...But critics contend such price regulations may discourage doctors from dispensing drugs and discourage patients from getting the prescription drugs they need."


The report also examines several other concerns expressed by supporters of physician dispensing. One is that spending on prescription drugs might increase if a California-type reform were adopted. They argue that physicians almost always dispense less expensive generic versions of drugs, while pharmacies dispense both brand names and generics. The study found that for the specific medications commonly dispensed by physicians, generics were almost always dispensed by both physicians and pharmacies. In many states, when generic drugs were dispensed, physician-dispensers were paid much higher prices per pill than pharmacies for the same prescription.

The data used for this study include nearly 5.7 million prescriptions paid under workers’ compensation for approximately 758,000 claims from 23 states over a period from 2007/2008 to 2010/2011. The 23 states in this study represent over two-thirds of the workers’ compensation benefits paid in the United States. These states include Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Several of the states in this study (Arizona, California, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee) recently adopted reforms aimed at reducing the prices of physician-dispensed drugs.


Related Blogs on drugs and workers' compensation
The High Price of Drugs: Upscale Pricing By Doctors
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Prescription drugs have become an increasingly important issue in workers' compensation law. Their use in workers' compensation claims has resulted in both a major direct financial cost to the system, and has had .
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Workers' Compensation: Federal Pre-emption Of Pain Drugs
Jun 20, 2012
As state workers' compensation reformers continue to be sidetracked with alleged prescription drug pain-killer abuse, the US Congress has entered the fray with proposed Federal legislation. It has been reported today by ...
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Workers' Compensation: Sidetracked By Drugs
May 04, 2012
To use the prescription drug abuse issue to attack workers' compensation generally is merely sidetracking the real problem with the medical delivery system which is the global denial of compensability of workers' ...
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Workers' Compensation: Drugs, Alcohol and Mauling Bears
Mar 30, 2011
Many states, including Wisconsin, hold that if an injury results from intoxication (by alcohol or drugs) benefits are not denied, but reduced (usually by 15%) as an employee safety violation, but intoxication is not evidence of a ...
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Workers' Compensation: The Complex World of Workers ...
Nov 18, 2011
The Complex World of Workers' Compensation and Pharmaceutical Benefits. The Workers' Compensation system, designed over a century ago, was intended to provide medical benefits that were to be delivered to injured ...
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Sep 14, 2011
The Top 10 Drugs Prescribed For Workers Compensation Claims. A recent study by NCCI Holdings, Inc. reports the top 10 most popular drugs prescribed for workers' compensation claims. OXYCONTIN®; LIDODERM ...
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Workers' Compensation: Workers Compensation on Drugs - Tenn ...
Dec 05, 2011
Workers Compensation on Drugs - Tenn Supreme Court Allows Fatal Case to Proceed. A major complaint of the failure of medicine is that sick people are sent to the pharmacy for pain relief without adequate evaluation ...
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Citing Violations Medicare Ends Contract with Fox Insurance
Mar 09, 2010
After an onsite review of the plan and its services, CMS determined that the plan's significant deficiencies – not meeting Medicare's requirements to provide enrollees with prescription drugs according to recognized standards ...
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Workers' Compensation: Health Benefits, US Supreme Court and ...
Mar 21, 2012
For Medicare beneficiaries stuck in the prescription drug benefit coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole," a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs and 14 percent savings on generic drugs. * A requirement ...
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