ASH Clinical News December 2016 | Page 35

CLINICAL NEWS

Hospitals : They ’ re Just Like Us

Patients aren ’ t the only ones being harmed by the “ financial toxicity ” of expensive drugs . Hospitals report that they are getting slammed by sharp price increases in prescription drugs , according to a study conducted by the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals .

The report found that , among the 712 community hospitals surveyed , between 2013 and 2015 :

hospitals ’ average annual inpatient drug spending increased by 23.4 %

inpatient drug spending on a peradmission basis increased by 38.7 %

medication costs on a per-admission basis increased from $ 714 to $ 990

The report also found that growth in unit price – not volume – was primarily responsible for the increase in total inpatient drug spending . “ Price increases appear to be random , inconsistent , and unpredictable : large unit price increases occurred for both low- and high-volume drugs and for both branded and generic drugs ,” the authors concluded , noting that about half of the drugs included had no generic competition .

Source : American Hospital Association , Federation of American Hospitals , “ Trends in hospital inpatient drug costs : Issues and challenges ,” October 11 , 2016 .

A Costly Diagnosis ( Part 2 )

In our November issue , we learned that the cost of treating blood cancers is twice that of treating other types of cancer , according to a study of health-care resource use and health-care costs in 31 European countries . A similar analysis looking specifically at spending on non-malignant blood disorders , including hemophilia and anemia , found that these disorders also carry a heavy economic burden .

€ 8 billion ($ 8.5 billion )

( 75 % of total costs ) in health-care costs

In 2012 , the total costs of a diagnosis of a non-malignant blood disorder was € 11 billion ($ 11.7 billion ), which included :

€ 2 billion

($ 2.1 billion )

( 19 %) in productivity loss

€ 1 billion

($ 1.1 billion )

( 6 %) in informal care

Averaged across the European population studied , annual health-care costs for managing non-malignant blood disorders amounted to € 159 per 10 citizens . “ Our results should be of use to decision makers and research-funding authorities charged with allocating health-care resources and research funds ,” the authors noted .

Source : Luengo-Fernandez R , Burns R , Leal J . Economic burden of non-malignant blood disorders across Europe : a population-based cost study . Lancet Haematol . 2016 ; 3 : e371-8 .

Working Hard , But Maybe Not Smart

According to a health-care efficiency index released by the Bloomberg news organization , the United States lags behind other countries in health-care efficiency ( which includes life expectancy , health-care spending per capita , and relative spending as a share of gross domestic product ).

The United States ranked 50th out of 55 countries included in the index ,

which assesses life expectancy , per-capita health-care spending , and relative spending as a share of a country ’ s gross domestic product ( GDP ). China ranked # 1 , and Russia ranked last (# 55 ), in terms of health-care efficiency :

China expenditures averaged $ 2,021 per person , about 5.4 % of GDP

U . S . expenditures averaged $ 9,403 per person , about 17.1 % of GDP

Russia expenditures averaged $ 893 per person , about 7.1 % of GDP

Life expectancy in the United States was 78.9 years . Interestingly , countries with the closest life expectancy ( Cuba , with 79.4 years , and the Czech Republic , with 78.3 years ) paid much less on health care : $ 817 and $ 1,379 per capita , respectively .

Source : Bloomberg Health-Care Efficiency Index , September 28 , 2016 .

ASHClinicalNews . org ASH Clinical News

33