COVID-19 is viewed as the condition putting the most upward pressure on drug expenditures, but over the next five years, respondents are eyeing migraine and hematologic cancers.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be receding and the public health emergency is scheduled to end on May 11, the respiratory disease ranked first as the condition that will account for putting the most upward pressure on drug expenditures in the 2023 Annual Managed Healthcare Executive Pharmacy Survey.
The 311 people who responded to the annual online survey Feb. 14-28 were allowed three picks among 11 conditions. Just over half (54%) had COVID-19 among their picks for conditions putting the greatest pressure on drug expenditures in 2023, followed by autoimmune disease (47%), diabetes (33%), hematologic (blood) cancers (31%) and hemophilia (30%).
When the time frame was extended to five years, COVID-19 was still top at the top of the table at 55%, but hematologic (blood) cancers (33%) and migraine (24%) nosed their way into being among the top picks.
Half (50%) of the respondents said benefit design to create incentives for patients to choose low-cost options was the most effective way to rein in pharmaceutical expenditures.
The respondents to the survey were spread fairly evenly across the various sectors of the U.S. healthcare industry, with 20% self-identifying as working for hospitals, 22% for physician practices, 19% for pharmacy benefit managers, 16% for payer organizations, 13% for drug and device manufacturers and the rest in a variety of sectors.
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