Patients are less likely to fill prescriptions for naloxone when they face increases in out-of-pocket costs, according to research by the University of Michigan. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study utilized data from a national pharmacy transactions database from November 2020 to March 2021. Researchers found that about 1 in 3 naloxone prescriptions for privately insured and Medicare patients were not filled.
Naloxone, an opioid antagonist that can reverse overdose, is a critical tool in preventing overdose deaths. Nationally, opioid overdoses account for more than 78,000 deaths annually, according to provisional data from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Michigan, that number totaled more than 2,200 in 2023. The rate of nonfilled prescriptions across the country jumped abruptly on Jan.
1, 2021—the date on which deductibles reset in many private and Medicare plans—as did the amount patients had to pay to fill prescriptions. The researchers estimate that a $10 increase in out-of-pocket cost would decrease the rate of filling prescriptions by about 2-3 percentage points. Minimizing barriers to accessing naloxone is a crucial step toward slowing the U.
S. opioid epidemic. Our study suggests that minimizing the out-of-pocket cost of naloxone prescriptions could help achieve this goal.
” Kao-Ping Chua, study lead author, assistant professor at the U-M Medical School and School of Public Health Chua and colleagues note .
