Beyond the Headline: Inflation-Adjusting ICER’s Unsupported Price Increase Results
AUTHORS
Tyler D. Wagner, PharmD, PhD, Kimberly Westrich, MA, Jon D. Campbell, PhD of the National Pharmaceutical Council and Robert J. Nordyke, PhD
Overview
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) publishes an annual Unsupported Price Increase (UPI) report that emphasizes the annual increase in “unsupported” drug spending due to net price changes. Despite allowing for medical inflation in the UPI protocol, ICER’s reported annual increases in spending are not accordingly adjusted for inflation. This study compared ICER’s unadjusted findings to the inflation-adjusted findings to evaluate the real impact on drug spending. Authors found that by not accounting for inflation, ICER overestimates the impact of price increases on drug spending and calls into question the value of its UPI reports for informed policy-making.
