Medicare expenditures for conventional and biologic disease modifying agents commonly used for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Biologic disease modifying agents (bDMARDs) are an integral part of rheumatoid arthritis treatment guidelines but are associated with significant cost in the US. We present the trends in total spending and unit cost of conventional DMARDs (cDMARDs) as compared to bDMARDs in Medicare program.

Methods

We used the Medicare drug spending data for the year 2012-2017 covering all part B (fee-for-service) and part D drugs. Total spending was calculated by summing spending across various drug formulations and unit drug cost by dividing total spending by number of doses dispensed. We present the 6-year trends in total spending, total beneficiary count and unit costs of each of the commonly used cDMARDs and bDMARDs.

Results

Between 2012 and 2017, the total spending o

SUBMITTER: Dalal DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7453205 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature