CMS Updates Drug Spending Dashboards with 2018 Data

Connecting People With Data

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its drug spending dashboards with data for 2018. The dashboards focus on average spending per dosage unit for prescription drugs within CMS programs, and track the change in average spending per dosage unit over time. Information is presented in an interactive web-based tool, so researchers and consumers can easily sort the data to identify trends. The dashboards include the following updates: A revised methodology that includes drugs that were new in 2018. Values based on potentially anomalous data are flagged as outliers so that users can exercise caution when interpreting average spending per dosage unit over time. In addition, CMS released information on discarded drug units in Medicare Part B. CMS requires all physicians, hospitals, and other providers submitting Medicare Part B drugs claims to report any discarded amount of a single use vial or other single use package drug on its claim for reimbursement. In 2018, Medicare spending on discarded drug units equaled $725 million, approximately 2% of total Part B drug spending. For more information on today’s update, please review the CMS press release: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-releases-enhanced-drug-dashboards-updated-data-2018 To view the drug spending dashboards see: https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Information-on-Prescription-Drugs/index All of the above data assets are also catalogued on Healthdata.gov:  http://www.healthdata.gov/dataset/search The Data Navigator development team welcomes your feedback. Write to us at DataNavigator@cms.hhs.gov.