Eric D Shah1, Lin Chang2, Anthony Lembo3, Kyle Staller4, Michael A Curley5, William D Chey6. 1. Center for Gastrointestinal Motility, Esophageal, and Swallowing Disorders, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH, 03766, USA. eric.d.shah@hitchcock.org. 2. Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 3. Digestive Disease Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA. 4. Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 5. Center for Gastrointestinal Motility, Esophageal, and Swallowing Disorders, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH, 03766, USA. 6. Division of Gastroenterology, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Prescription drug costs exert profound effects on commercial insurance coverage and access to effective therapy. AIMS: We aimed to assess threshold pricing to achieve budget neutrality of FDA-approved drugs treating irritable bowel syndrome from an insurance perspective, based on cost-savings resulting in decreased healthcare utilization through effective disease management. METHODS: We constructed a decision-analytic model from an insurance perspective to assess the budget impact of IBS prescription drugs under usual insurance coverage levels in practice: (1) unrestricted drug access or (2) step therapy in a primary care population of middle-age, care-seeking IBS patients. Budget-neutral drug prices were then calculated which resulted in $0 budget impact to insurers with a short-term, one-year time horizon. RESULTS: If used according to FDA labeling, IBS-D drugs cost between $4778 and $16,844 per year and IBS-C drugs cost between $4319 and $4955 per year. These drug costs often exceed insurance expenditures of $6999 for IBS-D and $3929 for IBS-C if left untreated. Therefore, for drugs to have $0 budget impact to insurers, their prices would need to be discounted 36.7-74.2% for IBS-D drugs and 59.3-82.5% for IBS-C. IBS drugs are already priced to support step therapy "failing one of several common, inexpensive IBS treatments with a responder rate > 30-40%," reflecting the subpopulation with more severe disease and greater healthcare costs. CONCLUSIONS: Broader prescription drug coverage for patients failing common, inexpensive IBS treatments to which at least 30-40% of patients would typically respond appears warranted to enable gastroenterologists to offer personalized approaches targeting specific mechanisms of this heterogeneous disease.
BACKGROUND: Prescription drug costs exert profound effects on commercial insurance coverage and access to effective therapy. AIMS: We aimed to assess threshold pricing to achieve budget neutrality of FDA-approved drugs treating irritable bowel syndrome from an insurance perspective, based on cost-savings resulting in decreased healthcare utilization through effective disease management. METHODS: We constructed a decision-analytic model from an insurance perspective to assess the budget impact of IBS prescription drugs under usual insurance coverage levels in practice: (1) unrestricted drug access or (2) step therapy in a primary care population of middle-age, care-seeking IBS patients. Budget-neutral drug prices were then calculated which resulted in $0 budget impact to insurers with a short-term, one-year time horizon. RESULTS: If used according to FDA labeling, IBS-D drugs cost between $4778 and $16,844 per year and IBS-C drugs cost between $4319 and $4955 per year. These drug costs often exceed insurance expenditures of $6999 for IBS-D and $3929 for IBS-C if left untreated. Therefore, for drugs to have $0 budget impact to insurers, their prices would need to be discounted 36.7-74.2% for IBS-D drugs and 59.3-82.5% for IBS-C. IBS drugs are already priced to support step therapy "failing one of several common, inexpensive IBS treatments with a responder rate > 30-40%," reflecting the subpopulation with more severe disease and greater healthcare costs. CONCLUSIONS: Broader prescription drug coverage for patients failing common, inexpensive IBS treatments to which at least 30-40% of patients would typically respond appears warranted to enable gastroenterologists to offer personalized approaches targeting specific mechanisms of this heterogeneous disease.
Authors: Eric D Shah; Mohsen Pourmorteza; B Joseph Elmunzer; Sarah K Ballou; Georgios I Papachristou; Luis F Lara; Uche Okafor; Sheryl A Pfeil; Darwin L Conwell; Somashekar G Krishna Journal: Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol Date: 2020-12-03 Impact factor: 11.382
Authors: Eric D Shah; Stephen T Amann; James Hobley; Sameer Islam; Raja Taunk; Louis Wilson Journal: Am J Gastroenterol Date: 2022-03-17 Impact factor: 10.864