Comp Rx Costs Leveled Off In 2006, Says NCCI

The prescription drug share of workers' compensation medical costs continued leveling off in 2006, according to a study released today by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI).

NCCI said the slower growth, which was also seen in 2005 is partly due to of the fact that the previously popular Cox-2 inhibitor anti-inflammatory drugs Vioxx and Bextra were removed from the market in late 2004 and early 2005.

The NCCI termed it remarkable and surprising that, drug usage has decreased two years in a row.

For claimants who had been getting Vioxx and Bextra, NCCI said no single drug or handful of drugs stands out as an apparent replacement.

For 2006, of the 50 most prescribed drugs, first place went to Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen, a generic form of Vicodin that is a narcotic analgesic used for moderate to severe pain, the study found.

The cost share of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs dropped five points in the past two years, according to the report.

NCCI's study said anti-inflammatory drugs comprised 25 percent of prescription drug costs in 2003. Three years later, the share had fallen 10 percentage points, Generic use in 2006, when generics were available, was 90 percent, up slightly from the previous year, the study found.

Without approvals of new generics, the maximum additional savings that can be realized from the use of generic equivalents is 12 percent, NCCI predicted.

Included in the study is a new analysis of what anti-inflammatory drugs are replacing the Cox-2 inhibitors, and an expanded discussion of generic drugs.

Updates of prior analyses include:

oEstimates of the prescription drug share of total medical costs by injury year.

oChanges in price, utilization, and cost.

oPrescribing patterns.

The report said that the prescription drug cost per claim rose at an annual average rate of 30.4 percent from 1998 to 2004, fell slightly in 2005 and rose again slightly in 2006, according to NCCI's preliminary estimate. The Council said that preliminary data indicated that price change not utilization change, drove the slight increase in total cost.

The full study is available online at www.ncci.com.