NU Online News Service, July 14, 3:50 p.m. EDT

The workers compensation market experienced a 6.5 percent growthin total pharmacy spending per injured worker in 2009, according toa report by a pharmaceutical products provider.

Tampa, Fla.-based PMSI announced the findings in its "2010 Annual Drug Trends Report."

The report found that a 4.7 percent increase in prescriptionprices and a 1.7 percent net change in utilization were responsiblefor the growth in total pharmacy spending.

The main influence driving prescription drug price was a 6.3percent rise in the Average Wholesale Price (AWP), the reportnotes, while the utilization change was related primarily to a 2.2percent increase in the days of supply per prescription.

In 2008, the days of supply per prescription was 27.6 days,compared to 28.2 days in 2009, according to the report.

In addition, the report found that, similar to PMSI Annual DrugTrends reports from previous years, over 75 percent of the totaldrug spending in workers compensation was associated withmedications used for the treatment of acute or chronic pain.

The report also noted that the average age of workers' compclaims decreased 1.2 percent in 2009 to 4.7 years, primarilybecause of an increase in the volume of new claims over 2008.

PMSI said its findings in the report came from analyzing over 5million retail and mail order pharmacy transactions from 2007 to2009.