New study finds one in six US cancer patients with high out-of-pocket costs not filling prescriptions

A new study presented last Friday at the US Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's 22nd Annual Meeting, held in San Diego, finds that one in six cancer patients with high out-of-pocket (OOP) costs abandons their medication.

The study by Prime Therapeutics, a thought leader in pharmacy benefit management, found patients with an OOP cost greater than $200 were at least three times more likely to not fill their prescription than those with OOP costs of $100 or less. The study suggests higher OOP costs for these oncology medications may negatively impact patient health as well as long-term health care costs.

While only 4.9% of members with an OOP expense of $100 or less abandoned their medication, that number climbed to 6.5 % for patients with an OOP expense between $101-$200, 16.1% for those with an OOP expense of $201-$500 and 28.8% for people with an OOP expense greater than $500 (p<0.001). in the study, one in five patients had an oop expense greater than $100.>