Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Learn more about prescribing trends, drug utilization; do not expect to see price concessions.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched an interactive resource with information about Medicare spending on prescription drugs. This Medicare Drug Spending Dashboard has details on six (6) lists comprising eighty (80) medications for Medicare part B and part D prescription drug spending. The tool contains drug data trends and utilization.

"There has been significant concern that one of the drivers of Medicare costs is pharmaceuticals," says Gregory Przybylski, MD, director of neurosurgery at the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, JFK Medical Center in Edison. "This resource will provide physicians with feedback to identify trends and allow for more informed choices among several similar drugs."

How useful is the dashboard? According to CMS, this dashboard will increase transparency and help address issues relating to affordability of prescription drugs. Having this information accessible in public should inform policy makers regarding health care decisions and encourage collective problem solving around access and affordability of drugs. The prescription drugs dashboard will have key data included in a consumer friendly format. There is drug product description, manufacturer information, and clinical indications.

Which drugs are included in the dashboard? Drugs included in the dashboard are those ranked in top fifteen (15) by total program spending in either part B or part D. These categories include drugs with data representing either high per user spending, overall program spending or drugs with high unit cost increases in recent years. The included medications represent 71 percent of Part B drug spending and 33 percent of all Part D spending from 2014.

What can you not get in the dashboard? Information about rebates and price concessions will not be reflected in the data.

Where to look for the dashboard? You can read more about The Medicare Drug Spending Dashboard at: https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Information-on-Prescription-Drugs.