Drug expenditure

Tricyclic antidepressants are not licensed for use in the anxiety disorders, so in theory the SSRIs should not be compared with them in cost-effectiveness terms. The SSRIs and venlafaxine are supplanting benzodiazepines as the latter s long-term problems become more appreciated. The SSRIs will take an increasing proportion of the market. However, in comparison with the overall costs of the anxiety disorders, this drug expenditure can be justified. Further cost-offset and cost-effectiveness studies will help hammer this point home. 

Figures 5.3 and 5.4 compare the DRA s budget as a percentage of national drug expenditure and per capita for the 10 countries.

Fig. 5 National prescription drug expenditures in the United States. (From Health Care Financing Administration.)...

Nonell and Borrell6 also study the evolution of public drug expenditure between 1986 and 1997 and break down its growth into five factors demography, coverage, index of prices actually paid for the products financed, number of prescriptions per insured person, and the real cost per prescription calculated as a remainder. They conclude that the dynamics of the average cost per prescription is the main driving force behind expenditure (p. 123). 

Rovira, J. (1996), Are national drug expenditure control policies compatible witha single European market , PharmacoEconomics, 10 (supplement 2), 4-13. 

Shah ND Vermeulen LC Santell JP and all. Projecting future drug expenditures. Am J Health Syst Pharm, 2002, 59(2) 131-140 ... 

Prescription Drug Expenditure in 2000 The Upward Trend Continues. Washington, DC National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation. (May 2001). 

In Europe, the numbers of registered drugs and drug expenditure are increasing rapidly. Within the European Union (EU) there are no longer any regulations... 

Hsieh, Chee-Ruey, and Frank A. Sloan. 2006. Adoption of Pharmaceutical Innovation and the Growth of Drug Expenditure The Taiwanese Experience. Working Paper, Duke University. 

Morgan, Steven G. 2002. Quantifying Components of Drug Expenditure Inflation The British Columbia Seniors Drug Benefit Plan. Health Services Research 37 1243-1266. 

Hoffman J, Hontz K, Hunkier R, Shah N. 2005. Projecting future drug expenditures 2005. Am J Health-Syst Pharm 62 149. 

Figure 16-1. U.S. Prescription Drug Expenditures by Source of Payment, 1990-2005. Source Data were obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Madicaid Service at http //www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ Note PT OOP is direct spending by consumers for prescriptions drugs. It includes prescriptions not covered by a third party and patient cost-sharing for third parly prescriptions.

Daniel GW, Malone DC. 2007. Characteristics of older adults who meet the annual prescription drug expenditure threshold for Medicare medication therapy management programs. JManag Care Pharm 13 142. 

Pharmacy continues to assume a larger portion of the health care dollar. According to projections for 2006, prescription drug expenditures were predicted to increase slightly to 213 billion (6.5 percent growth),... 

Hoffman JM, Shah ND, Vermeulen LC, et al. Projecting future drug expenditures—2004.AmJ Health Syst Pharm 2004 6l 145-158. 

It is remarkable in the Slovak Republic that total drug expenditures have taken off exponentially (from SK 2.5 billion in 1990 to SK 13,5 billion in 1995) although drug consumption in units hats decreased (from 160 million units in 1990 to 147 million units in 1996). 

FIGURE 45.3 Drug expenditure per capita, OECD countries 2004. Note (2) 2002 (3) 2003. Data are expressed in US dollars as purchasing power parities (PPPs), which allows countries to be compared on a basis that compares dieir values with the cost of a given basket of commodities in each country rather dian standard exchange rates. Source OECD Healdi Data 2006 http //www.oecd.Org/dataoecd/5/24/36984917.pdf. 

Limitations of coverage vary across plans and include restrictions applying specifically to prescription drug expenditures (e.g., copayments for each prescription) and restrictions affecting overall health expenditures (e.g., a single annual deductible for all covered medical services in a major medical policy). Policies with specific copayments for prescriptions increased substan-... 

In the 1960s Canadian federal and provincial health programs did not yet include pharmaceutical benefits, so patients paid for nearly all drugs themselves. The early 1960s saw rapid increases in Canadian drug expenditures, which alarmed the public and created a national demand for price... 

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