Patients, Pocketbooks and a Podcast on Prescription Price Transparency

The need for greater price transparency in healthcare is all over the news. Policy makers across the country have taken up the cause. Patients are demanding real change, as healthcare costs continue to rise and hit pocketbooks hard. Given that Surescripts processes nearly 5 million electronic prescriptions each day, we’re focused on leveraging technology to improve prescription price transparency specifically. Americans spent $425 billion on prescriptions in 2015, a more than 12 percent increase from 2014. And the nation’s spending on medicines is forecasted to reach $610-640 billion in 2020.

In a recent Becker’s Healthcare podcast, Surescripts Chief Executive Officer Tom Skelton talked about how the Surescripts Network Alliance is taking prescription price transparency from hot topic to healthcare reality. He also talked about why.

“We’re trying to step back and look at things more holistically to ensure we’re addressing issues that may be impacting medication adherence,” Skelton said. “We know that ten percent of people who abandon their prescriptions do so because of cost. We also have data that shows that about 40 percent of patients will abandon treatment when a prior authorization is required.”

For more perspective on the criticality of price transparency, interoperability and more, check out the article and podcast.