Almost half of practitioners want lower drug prices, but only 3% expect it to happen

BOSTON -  Doctors, pharmacists and managed care executives in the U.S. want lower drug prices for patients, greater pharmacy reimbursement, and an expanded focus on patient-centered care. However they were strongly pessimistic about whether these changes will happen, according to new data compiled by InCrowd, a provider of real-time market intelligence to life sciences and healthcare firms. 

 

"The discrepancy between what the industry wants, and what it thinks it will get, is stark," stated Diane Hayes, president InCrowd. "Over half of respondents expected the exact opposite result of what they hoped to get, like wanting lower drug prices, and expecting there would be no change at all."

 

InCrowd asked members of its Crowd of 1.8 million of clinicians, pharmacy staff and managed care providers, about important changes and innovations they wanted to see in the pharmaceutical industry in 2016 - and at the same time, what changes they realistically expected. 

 

Drug price concerns were the overriding theme of the microsurvey, with 45% of respondents wanting lower drug prices for patients. Yet while 34% of respondents said they would like to see better price control and lower prices in 2016, only 3% predicted they would see such changes. 

 

Better pharmacy reimbursement was identified by 13% of respondents as a top issue in 2016, yet over half of respondents who wanted this predicted either no change, or lower reimbursement. Similarly over half of respondents who wanted more patient-oriented care predicted either no change in this dimension, or, in fact, less patient-oriented care. 

 

"The data show how the pharma industry is largely on the same page as consumers and regulatory authorities when it comes to hot-button topics like drug prices, even if the data don't point the way to an immediate resolution," said Hayes. "Sometimes quantifying the size of the challenge is the first step to solving it."

 

The 3-minute microsurvey included 118 respondents - 52 physicians, 59 pharmacists and 7 managed care professionals - fielded in December, 2015 using InCrowd's real-time platform.