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Hospitals report skyrocketing drug prices are challenging their budgets
Hospitals report skyrocketing drug prices are challenging their budgets
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
https://twitter.com/carolynyjohnson
October 11 at 11:00 AM
A third of hospitals reported that drug price increases had a “severe” effect on their budgets and ability to manage costs in the last two years, according to a new survey funded by organizations that lobby on behalf of hospitals.
The survey included responses from more than 700 community hospitals and two group purchasing organizations that negotiate prices on behalf of 1,400 hospitals. The findings highlight how price increases on individual drugs can have a big impact on hospitals that are large purchasers. For example, price increases on the decades-old pain reliever acetaminophen from 2013 to 2015 — from a unit price of $13 to $30 — drove spending from $43 million to nearly $100 million over two years, according to the survey.
The survey was funded by the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals, and it was analyzed by the University of Chicago.
Sudden price hikes on two hospital-administered heart drugs drew scrutiny to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International last year. Erin Fox, director of the Drug Information Service at the University of Utah Health Care, told Congress that where she works, the Valeant drug Isuprel had been removed from crash carts that are deployed across the system for use in emergencies, after a price hike that would have brought hospital spending on the drug to $1.6 million. Instead, the drug was brought to “codes,” when a patient went into cardiac arrest, in pharmacy backup boxes.
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
https://twitter.com/carolynyjohnson
October 11 at 11:00 AM
A third of hospitals reported that drug price increases had a “severe” effect on their budgets and ability to manage costs in the last two years, according to a new survey funded by organizations that lobby on behalf of hospitals.
The survey included responses from more than 700 community hospitals and two group purchasing organizations that negotiate prices on behalf of 1,400 hospitals. The findings highlight how price increases on individual drugs can have a big impact on hospitals that are large purchasers. For example, price increases on the decades-old pain reliever acetaminophen from 2013 to 2015 — from a unit price of $13 to $30 — drove spending from $43 million to nearly $100 million over two years, according to the survey.
The survey was funded by the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals, and it was analyzed by the University of Chicago.
Sudden price hikes on two hospital-administered heart drugs drew scrutiny to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International last year. Erin Fox, director of the Drug Information Service at the University of Utah Health Care, told Congress that where she works, the Valeant drug Isuprel had been removed from crash carts that are deployed across the system for use in emergencies, after a price hike that would have brought hospital spending on the drug to $1.6 million. Instead, the drug was brought to “codes,” when a patient went into cardiac arrest, in pharmacy backup boxes.