- A study funded by the American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists found that total drug spend per hospital admission rose 18.5% between 2015 and 2017, adding $1.8M in additional costs for an average hospital.
- Outpatient drug spending per admission rose almost 30% while inpatient spending for medicines rose 10%. Price hikes as high as 80% or more occurred in anesthetics, parenteral solutions, opioid agonists and chemo.
- More than 90% of hospitals surveyed had to identify alternative therapies to mitigate the impact of price increases and drug shortages. One in four had to downsize staff.
- The price of Roche's stroke med Activase increased 19% to $4,143. Johnson & Johnson's Remicade, AbbVie's Humira and Amgen's Enbrel increased between 15 - 21%.
- The majority of hospitals reported that competition had little effect on prices. Two of the 10 most expensive drugs in fiscal 2017 had generic or biosimilar alternatives enter the market in 2016, but the two still increased 4.1%, albeit more modestly than the 14.4% average hike among the other eight.
- About 750 hospitals have joined a non-profit venture called Civica Rx aimed at managing drug costs and supply.
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