Pharmaceuticals - Cost or investment? An employer's perspective

Employers are becoming increasingly concerned about rising pharmaceutical c osts. Are improved health and cost outcomes achieved as a result of increas ing pharmaceutical costs? One should approach this issue with a holistic vi ew that considers the overall impact that disease conditions have on health and productivity, To illustrate, we first identified the "top ten" most ex pensive physical and mental health concerns facing American businesses, usi ng data from over 60 firms from the 1996 MarketScan(R) Private Pay Fee-For- Service Research Database. For some of these top ten conditions, the litera ture already addresses the drug cost versus investment issue, with mixed re sults. For conditions in which uncertainty prevails and for other high-cost conditions, empirical analyses should address the drug cost versus investm ent issue to minimize the risk of a penny-wise and pound-foolish payment/co verage policy. A similar strategy should be applied to individual corporate diagnostic assessments.