Prices for physician-dispensed drugs in Connecticut are falling, but remain up to 60 percent higher than pharmacy drugs, according to the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The not-for-profit organization’s study aimed to measure early results of a 2012 change in the way Connecticut governs reimbursements for prescriptions doctors both write and dispense. Nearly 20 other states have made changes over the past decade that target potential conflicts of interest in drug dispensing and pricing.
WCRI Executive Director Richard Victor said in a statement that the new regulations do not seem to have discouraged Connecticut doctors from dispensing drugs themselves at lower prices.
Physicians dispensed 36 percent of all prescriptions in the second quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, the study said. That was down from 39 percent before the new rules. The data used came from payors representing 64 percent of all medical claims in the state’s workers’ comp system.
The study said that, in some cases, price differences between doctors and pharmacies could be explained by pharmacies having contracts that allow them to purchase drugs at below-wholesale prices.
WCRI said it doesn’t take a position on the subjects it studies.
