COVID-19 may have distorted drug expenditures
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While drug expenditures in workers compensation continued to decline in 2020, a report released Thursday by pharmacy benefits manager myMatrixx said the effects of COVID-19 on the workforce and injuries may have complicated figures.
For payers with a workers compensation program managed by myMatrixx, an Express Scripts company overall prescription utilization in 2020 decreased 4.9% and cost per days’ supply decreased by 2.6%. Overall, 40.7% of insurers reduced drug spending that year, according to the report.
However, a reduction in new claims for 2020 — due to widespread unemployment and the move to remote work — caused older claims to “distort” the average overall drug utilization, leading to a statistical increase of 12.2% at the individual injured patient level, which myMatrixx in its report labeled the “COVID distortion effect.”
Meanwhile, new workers comp claims continue to be associated with lower drug utilization and expense, while older claims have greater prescription use and expense.
Long a downward trend, opioid spending declined by 1.2% in cases, yet the rate of decline is lower than previous years, and myMatrixx said its clinical team “is investigating potential causes for this trend, particularly regarding the COVID distortion effect.”
The report also stated that compensable treatment of COVID-19 symptoms has had “minimal impact” on retail prescription spending, comprising less than 0.25% of total expenditures.
More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.
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Workers compensation payers disbursed 3.8% less for prescriptions in 2018, including a 15% drop in opioids, due to a decline in utilization and overall cost per prescription, according to a drug trends report released Thursday by MyMatrixx, a subsidiary of Express Scripts Holding Co.
