Employers Lack Awareness and Understanding of Specialty Drugs and Costs

MBGH survey identifies knowledge and benefit design gaps

Twenty-five percent of employers have little or no understanding of specialty pharmacy and 53 percent have only a moderate understanding of this challenging benefit according to a new survey released by the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), one of the nation's leading business groups of private and public employers.

The vast majority of the 120 employers – ranging in size from 500 to 25,000 employees – that responded to this national survey indicated they did not know how much their company was spending on specialty pharmacy medications through their medical or pharmacy plans. Additionally, almost 30 percent indicated that they did not know how much their total specialty claim costs had increased in the past three to five years. Read the full release...