Annual Drug Trends Report Shows Rising Costs

Although the nation’s businesses have made significant progress in workplace safety, resulting in a reduced number of injured workers, the medical cost per injured worker continues to rise. At the forefront of this problem are escalating costs associated with pharmaceutical care.

Recent estimates indicate that pharmacy accounts for approximately 14.2 percent of total medical costs. More importantly, as a claim ages, pharmacy consumes an even greater percentage of medical costs — by year three post-injury, pharmacy spend represents 80 percent or more of total workers’ compensation medical spend.