HSA Assessing Workers’ Comp Pharmacy Cost Controls

Health Strategy Associates (HSA), a national consulting firm active in the workers’ compensation industry, is conducting the Second Annual Survey on Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Compensation.

This is reportedly the only survey designed specifically to determine workers’ comp claims payers’ opinions about increasing pharmaceutical costs, their cost drivers, various cost-containment programs and vendors, and future trends.

The cost of prescription drugs in workers’ comp rose nearly 20 percent between 2002 and 2003, according to the “Workers Compensation Prescription Drug Study-2004 Update,” released by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI).

“Our study expands on NCCI’s research, which is purely quantitative and based on claims data,” said HSA’s Joseph Paduda, who conducted a similar study last year. “The HSA survey drills down into industry leaders’ perceptions of the cost drivers and their plans to control pharmacy costs, as well as the results of those programs.”

The survey examines annual prescription drug expenditures, cost-containment techniques, including the use of Pharmacy Benefit Management services, and the impact of specific program components.

HSA, a Madison, Conn.-based firm, is conducting the confidential, in-depth, qualitative study between December 2004 and January 2005 and will release the results during the first quarter of 2005.

The survey is being sponsored by PMSI, a national supplier of medications to the workers’ comp industry.

For results of the 2004 Prescription Drug Management Survey in Worker’ Compensation, go to: http://www.healthstrategyassoc.com/research.html.