Trends in prescription drug utilization and spending for the department of defense, 2002-2007

Abstract

Objective: Examine trends in U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) outpatient drug spending and utilization between 2002 and 2007. Methods: We analyzed pharmacy claims data from the U.S. Military Health System (MHS), using a cross-sectional analysis at the prescription and patient-year level and measuring utilization in 30-day equivalent prescriptions and expenditures in dollars. Results: Pharmaceutical spending more than doubled in DoD, from S3 billion in FY02 to $6.5 billion in FY07. The largest increase occurred in the DoD community pharmacy network, where utilization grew from 6 million 30-day equivalent prescriptions in the first quarter of FY02 to more than 16 million in the last quarter of FY07. The smallest increase in annual spending occurred in FY07 (5.5%). down from a high of 27.5% in FY03. Conclusions: The MHS has experienced rapid growth in pharmaceutical spending since FY02. However, there are signs that growth in pharmaceutical spending may be slowing.