The following are very important facts that help illustrate the extraordinary growth of the pharmacy benefit programs cost:

• Increases in number of prescriptions per user: 38.4%
• Increases in number of days per prescription: 19%
• Increases due to substitution of newer, more expensive drugs for existing drug therapy: 17.2%
• Number of new users (individuals not previously treated by prescription drugs): 14%
• Increases in price: 4.4%
• Interactions: 7.0%
• Lack of controls or auditing systems in place: approximately 20%
• Drugs introduced after 1996 account for about 1/3 of the increase in prescription drug expenditures   from 1996-1999.
• The proportion of persons with medication expenditures greater than $2,000 per year has nearly   quadrupled, from 1.3 percent of the population to 5.3 percent!

These dramatic facts urge plan sponsors to -now more than ever-manage their pharmacy benefits through formal reviews and analysis. These detailed audits can reveal essential information about your program¹s actual cost-efficiency and may result in substantial savings for your company.