STAT Plus: Employers are planning how to blunt the cost of pricey new specialty drugs
As the pharmaceutical industry develops increasingly expensive medicines – notably, those costing seven figures – a new survey finds the largest employers in the U.S. plan to boost the use of various tactics to mitigate the expense and, in some cases, possibly postpone access for employees.
For instance, 44% of 122 employers expect to delay placing million-dollar-drugs on their formularies for a set amount of time, or at least until a pharmacy benefits manager vets safety and effectiveness. Although this is not a new tactic, that’s up from 26% last year, according to the survey by the Business Group on Health, a non-profit that represents employers on health policy and workforce matters.
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