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Comparative Study
. 2017 Sep;77(3):448-455.e2.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2017.04.1127. Epub 2017 Jun 23.

Prescription patterns and costs of acne/rosacea medications in Medicare patients vary by prescriber specialty

Myron Zhang  1 , Jonathan I Silverberg  2 , Benjamin H Kaffenberger  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Prescription patterns and costs of acne/rosacea medications in Medicare patients vary by prescriber specialty

Myron Zhang et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Prescription patterns for acne/rosacea medications have not been described in the Medicare population, and comparisons across specialties are lacking.

Objective: To describe the medications used for treating acne/rosacea in the Medicare population and evaluate differences in costs between specialties.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed of the 2008 and 2010 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Prescription Drug Profiles, which contains 100% of Medicare part D claims.

Results: Topical antibiotics accounted for 63% of all prescriptions. Patients ≥65 years utilized more oral tetracycline-class antibiotics and less topical retinoids. Specialists prescribed brand name drugs for the most common topical retinoids and most common topical antibiotics more frequently than family medicine/internal medicine (FM/IM) physicians by 6%-7%. Topical retinoids prescribed by specialists were, on average, $18-$20 more in total cost and $2-$3 more in patient cost than the same types of prescriptions from FM/IM physicians per 30-day supply. Specialists (60%) and IM physicians (56%) prescribed over twice the rate of branded doxycycline than FM doctors did (27%). The total and patient costs for tetracycline-class antibiotics were higher from specialists ($18 and $4 more, respectively) and IM physicians ($3 and $1 more, respectively) than they were from FM physicians.

Limitations: The data might contain rare prescriptions used for conditions other than acne/rosacea, and suppression algorithms might underestimate the number of specialist brand name prescriptions.

Conclusion: Costs of prescriptions for acne/rosacea from specialists are higher than those from primary care physicians and could be reduced by choosing generic and less expensive options.

Keywords: Medicare; acne; antibiotics; cost of care; prescription drug costs; rosacea; topical retinoids.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Dr. Kaffenberger serves on the advisory board of Castle Biosciences and has received research funds from Eli Lilly, XBiotech, Celgene, and Biogen.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of acne/rosacea prescriptions by sex (A) and age group (B)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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