Increase in mental health prescriptions did not result in higher cost, analysis finds
EmpiRx Health survey found that it is possible for health care services to provide a system of support and sustain costs, especially in a time of crisis.
Although Americans increased their consumption of prescription drugs for depression, anxiety and ADHD during the pandemic, spending by payers actually decreased.
EmpiRx Health, a value-based pharmacy benefit manager, analyzed first-party data to identify trends emerging through drug utilization and plan spend year-over-year from 2020 to 2021. It found that it is possible for health care services to provide a system of support and sustain costs, especially in a time of crisis.
“The precept that mental health is health is laid bare by the pandemic and its continuing aftermath, as is the need for a concerted push toward value-based care,” CEO Karthik Ganesh says. “We published this data to shed light on this mental health tsunami, as well as to demonstrate the successful outcomes of a financially aligned health care model.”
Employers have a moral and business obligation to support their employees’ mental health needs, he says, and failure to do so threatens employee satisfaction and productivity.
“According to the American Psychiatric Association, workplaces see a 35% reduction in productivity among employees with unresolved depression,” Ganesh says. “At the same time, providing meaningful support cannot explode the bottom line. The financial burden of responding to the crisis should not disproportionately impact employer-sponsored benefits plans or plan members themselves.”
Key findings from the analysis show:
- Behavioral health categories drove an increase of 9.4% in pharmacy claims year-over-year, and 75% of these are antidepressants.
- Specific to antidepressants, while year-over-year utilization increased by 12%, that demand was balanced with a decrease in gross spend per claim by 1.8%.
- ADHD treatment data found that adults aged 26 and older have driven a consistent increase in ADHD treatment for more than three years, now accounting for 50% of all ADHD utilizers.
- Overall ADHD utilization increased by 20.2% year-over-year, countered by a 9.1% decrease in gross spend per claim.
- From 2020 to 2021, across the book of business, EmpiRx Health saw a decrease of 4.7% in plan paid per utilizer.
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“Health care service providers play a critical role in making appropriate care not only accessible but affordable to all,” Ganesh says. “Our data proves that with a value-based approach, we can ensure health care needs, whatever they may be, are met while still holding costs down.”