Between and within drug variation in copayments for common oral anti-cancer medications at an academic medical center.

Authors

null

Scott Swartz

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Scott Swartz, Mackenzie Clark, Jared White, Mimi Lo, Arjun Gupta, Tracy Kuo Lin, Fumiko Chino, Meera Vimala Ragavan

Organizations

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, ChemoExperts, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center, Minneapolis, MN, University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA, Duke University, Durham, NC

Research Funding

Other
Costs of Care.

Background: The use of oral anti-cancer medications- which are often high priced with significant cost sharing to the patient- is increasing. Transparency of out-of-pocket costs and payment responsibility has historically been limited due to the wide variation in coverage by insurance plans and pharmacy benefits. Our study utilized a novel pharmacy database to describe within-drug and between-drug variation in patient copayments for ten common oral anti-cancer medications. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study including all patients prescribed an oral cancer-directed therapy through the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Specialty Pharmacy between January 1,2021 and December 31, 2021. The unit of analysis was defined as patient-drug. Copayments were standardized as 30-day costs. Data was abstracted through our institution’s Specialty Pharmacy prescribing database and linked to demographic data through the institutional electronic medical record system. Between drug variation in copayments was analyzed using Pearson chi square tests. Results: There were 1,357 total patient-drug combinations over the study period. Medicare Part D was the primary payor (44%) followed by commercial insurance (25%). The ten most frequently prescribed medications (Table) accounted for 50% of all oral anti-cancer prescriptions. Minimum monthly copayment for all medications was $0. There were significant differences across medications in the percentage of patients with a mean copayment above $150 (Χ2 = 33.9, p < 0.001) and percentage of patients receiving financial assistance (Χ2 = 63, p < 0.001). Conclusions: There was a high amount of within-drug and between-drug variation in copayments within an integrated specialty pharmacy program. It is essential to identify patients with high copayments early on in cancer treatment and connect them with tangible resources to help mitigate the growing financial impact of these medications.

10 most frequently prescribed anti-cancer medications at the UCSF Specialty Pharmacy from 1/1/2021-12/31/2021.

Drug name
Number (% of total) of patients prescribed drug
Maximum 30-day copay
Percentage of patients with mean copay above $150/month
Percentage of patients receiving financial assistance
Abiraterone
180 (13.2%)
$2443
31%
26%
Venetoclax
99 (7.3%)
$2805
19%
38%
Capecitabine
79 (5.8%)
$3737
10%
0%
Ibrutinib
65 (4.8%)
$20,075
25%
48%
Enzalutamide
54 (4.0%)
$3532
37%
43%
Apalutamide
44 (3.2%)
$2940
23%
50%
Dasatinib
41 (3%)
$2975
10%
34%
Palbociclib
40 (2.9%)
$18,845
32.5%
38%
Lenvatinib
38 (2.8%)
$2847
8%
32%
Osimertinib
36 (2.6%)
$3049
14%
19%

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2022 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session A

Track

Cost, Value, and Policy,Health Care Access, Equity, and Disparities,Patient Experience

Sub Track

Cost and Cost-Effectiveness of Care

Citation

J Clin Oncol 40, 2022 (suppl 28; abstr 18)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2022.40.28_suppl.018

Abstract #

18

Poster Bd #

A16

Abstract Disclosures

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