US Healthcare and Pharmacy Spending Increased in 2013
Spending on medicine rose 3.2% in 2013, reaching $329.2 billion, rebounding from a 1% decrease in spending that was seen in 2012, according to findings from a IMS Health Holdings Inc., report.
Factors that led to increased spending include the cost of new medicines, price increases on some branded drugs, a $10 billion reduced impact of patent expirations compared with 2012, and the first rise in the use of healthcare services in 3 years.
Greater use of generic drugs did help to control spending, which accounted for 86% of all prescriptions filled in the United States, up from 84% in 2012.
Healthcare utilization increased across the board, with rises in doctor's office visits, hospitalizations, and volume of prescriptions filled. IMS Health did note that the increase in healthcare services cannot be attributed to individuals newly insured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the recent Medicaid expansion, which were not fully implemented until this year. They did propose that this increase could be a reflection of declines in unemployment, with more people gaining employer-based health insurance, and recent gains in consumer confidence.
In addition, new therapies for cancer, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and orphan diseases has led to a shift in some patient spending tendencies, according to the report. Patients gained access to 36 new medicines in 2013, including a record 17 orphan drugs that treat small patient populations at typically a very high cost.
These trends could continue over the next 2 years as even more new cancer drugs come to market, as well as new oral hepatitis C treatments with extremely high cure rates and fewer side effects.
While the overall number of hospitalizations increased, emergency room visits that turn into in-patient admissions declined dramatically, by 14.6%. That could point to continued use of high-cost emergency services for nonemergency primary care for many people, according to the report.—Kerri Fitzgerald
Source: Thomson Reuters 2014. U.S. healthcare usage and spending resumes rise in 2013: report.
