If youâve noticed pharmacy spending takes a bigger chunk out your healthcare budget with each passing year, youâre not alone. Luckily, there are some practical steps you can take to stave off the increases.
Buck Consultants, an HR and benefits consulting firm, recently published the Prescription Drug Benefit Survey, and it contained several eye-opening stats.
âNo signs of decreasingâ
More than three-quarters (77%) of employers are currently spending 16% or more of their health costs on pharmacy benefits alone, according to the study. On top of being a high figure in and of itself, itâs up from the 72% of employers who reported spending that much in last yearâs Buck Consultantsâ study.
Another alarming stat: 4.6% of firms are spending more than 30% of their healthcare dollars on pharmacy benefits. Thatâs double the 2.3% of employers that reported spending that much last year.
One explanation for the increase is the surging popularity of speciality drugs.
As Buck Consultants Principal Paul Burns explained:
With specialty drug costs showing no signs of decreasing, we could easily see the average percentage of total health care spend employers are paying for pharmacy increase from 15 to 20%.
Room for improvement
The study, however, did offer some encouraging news for employers.
Essentially, the folks at Buck Consultants said the bulk of employers could spend their pharmacy dollars more efficiently and prevent the upward trend in pharmacy benefit spending.
How? By getting together with your benefits broker and making sure your pharmacy benefits strategy and policy is consistent with your budget goals.
In addition, Buck suggests that firms conduct competitive bidding process on a regular basis to select a pharmacy benefit manager.
For more HR News, please visit: Getting a handle on skyrocketing employee pharmacy spending
Source: News from HR Morning