Total real per capita spending on medicines in the USA fell 3.5% in 2012

Total spending on US medicines fell 3.5 percent on a real per capita basis in 2012 and the use of health care services overall declined for the second consecutive year, according to a new study released today by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

The report - titled Declining Medicine Use and Costs: For Better or Worse? – finds that total dollars spent on medications in the USA reached $325.8 billion last year, or real per capita spending of $898, down $33 from 2011. Underlying drivers for the overall decline in health care service use included fewer patient visits to office-based physicians, fewer non-emergency admissions to hospitals and outpatient facilities, and a less severe flu season in the early part of 2012. Patent expiries in 2012 contributed $28.9 billion to the reduction in medicine spending. This was their largest-ever impact as millions of patients accessed lower-cost generic versions of additional medicines.

“The cost curve for medicines was clearly bent in 2012, for better or for worse,” said Murray Aitken, executive director, IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. “To some extent, this is a harbinger of more efficient use of our health care resources, but it also reflects a decline in utilization that may be the result of under-treatment and an imbalance between prevention and care. On the eve of the most transformative period in US health care, understanding the drivers of this cost-curve reduction is critical to effectively addressing the long-term implications,” he added.