Payment Per Claim Of Drugs Prescribed To Injured Workers In TN Was Typical Of States In New WCRI Study

Cambridge, MA - The average payment per claim of prescription drugs used to treat injured workers in Tennessee was fairly typical of the states examined in a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).

The 16-state study by the Cambridge, MA-based WCRI found that the average payment per claim for prescription drugs in the Tennessee workers' compensation system was $381, near the median of the study states.

The WCRI study, Prescription Benchmarks for Tennessee, found that the prices paid to pharmacies were similar to the prices paid in the median state for most common drugs. The utilization of prescription drugs in Tennessee was also typical on average.

As the study noted, some Tennessee physicians dispensed prescription drugs directly to the patient at their offices. This occurred in 11 percent of all prescriptions in the state.

When physicians dispensed the medications they prescribed, they were often paid more than what pharmacies would have been paid if the same prescription had been filled at a pharmacy.

The WCRI study is the first in an annual series that benchmarks the cost, price and utilization of pharmaceuticals in workers' compensation.

The Workers Compensation Research Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization conducting public policy research on workers' compensation, healthcare and disability issues. Its members include employers, insurers, insurance regulators and state administrative agencies in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as several state labor organizations.

Source: Workers Compensation Research Institute

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