Amy R. Pettit, PhD

Medicare claims analyses offer insight into how proposed policy changes would affect out-of-pocket prescription costs for Part D beneficiaries requiring specialty drugs.

A Medicare claims analysis of patients newly diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia revealed that high cost sharing was associated with reduced and/or delayed tyrosine kinase inhibitor initiation under Part D.

The authors review published evidence regarding associations between high cost sharing for specialty pharmaceuticals indicated for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer, and their utilization.