“Medicare spent $1.4 billion in 2017 and 2018 on Part B drugs that were discarded, a new report shows.”
“MedicareAdvantage.com, an MA insurance broker, analyzed claims data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and found that Medicare spent $695 million on discarded Part B drugs in 2017 and $725 million in 2018.”
“Most of the drug waste in that two-year period was unused units of cancer and chemotherapy drugs, according to the report. In many cases, a single-dose vial contains a higher dose than is needed, leading to the excess being discarded…”
“Medicare Part B covers drugs administered by providers, while prescription drugs are covered under Part D. Part B only accounts for about 16% of Medicare drug spend, according to the report, and in 2018 alone Medicare spent $168.1 billion on drugs in Part D…”
“Though the waste identified in the study accounts for just 2% of Medicare spend, it represents a significant opportunity for savings for other costs, the MedicareAdvantage.com team argues. For example, that $1.4 billion in waste could have purchased 87,000 hospital ventilators, about 16 for each hospital in the country…” Read the full article here.
Source: Medicare spent $1.4B on discarded Part B drugs in 2017 and 2018: report – By Paige Minemyer, August 20, 2020. Fierce Healthcare.
