CMS: Medicare Part D costs increased 17 percent in 2014

CMS has released new data on prescriptions made by physicians and providers and paid for through Medicare Part D in 2014.

The data set, the second release of its kind, according to set, includes information from more than one million unique providers. Collectively, they prescribed $121 billion in drugs paid for by Part D, a 17 percent increase from the 2013 data set.

“With this data release, patients, researchers and providers can access valuable information about the Medicare prescription drug program,” CMS Chief Data Officer Niall Brennan said in a statement. “Today’s release joins a series of actions the administration is taking to improve transparency around government data, including the cost of prescription drugs.”

The 17.1 percent increase is above the 12.6 percent rise in overall prescription drug spending between 2013 and 2014 as reported by HHS in March. Total claims also increased, but only 3.3 percent.

The most prescribed drug paid through was ACE inhibitor Lisinopril, with 38.2 million total claims in 2014 among 7.4 million beneficiaries.

The top drug by cost was hepatitis C treatment Solvadi. More than $3.1 billion was spent through Part D on the drug among 109,543 claims, coming out to a per claim cost of $28,359. The per-fill cost for commercial insurers for Sovaldi was $28,083 in 2014, according to a study written earlier this year by Susan Dusetzina, PhD, an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of North Carolina.

Sovaldi’s place in the top spot isn’t surprising, with its well-documented $1,000 per-pill price tag. The no. 2 drug by cost was proton pump inhibitor Nexium, which accounted for more than $2.6 billion in Part D spending, which was spread among 7.5 million claims for a far lower cost of $352 per claim.