Tightly managed clients saw 0.6% trend

CVS Health has released the 2020 Drug Trend Report. Our job at CVS Caremark is to be the best manager of our clients’ pharmacy spend, which includes better engaging patients and their providers throughout the duration of therapy, creating more actionable insights to maximize specialty savings while improving patient care and experience.
2020 Drug Trend Report highlights |
|
![]() |
0.6% pharmacy trend for tightly managed clients; their costs were $10 lower PMPM than the overall cohort |
![]() |
2.9% overall drug trend |
![]() |
Negative trend for 34% of commercial clients |
![]() |
18% of clients had negative specialty trend |
![]() |
Utilization increased by 1.7% |
![]() |
Price growth was measured at 1.2% |
Read the full 2020 Drug Trend Report >
Specialty
Specialty treatments continue to be the fastest-growing area of pharmacy spend, with utilization as the main driver.
98% of utilization increase was from conditions with new therapies/indications |
90% of spend was driven by five therapeutic categories: autoimmune, oncology, cystic fibrosis, atopic dermatitis, and HIV |
98% of utilization increase was from conditions with new therapies/indications |
90% of spend was driven by five therapeutic categories: autoimmune, oncology, cystic fibrosis, atopic dermatitis, and HIV |
Ensuring appropriate specialty utilization, avoiding waste and maximizing cost reduction programs helped us keep specialty trend in check for clients who used our services.
More than 40% of clients had single-digit specialty trend |
18% of clients had negative specialty trend |
More than 40% of clients had single-digit specialty trend |
18% of clients had negative specialty trend |
Explore the 2020 Drug Trend Report to read more about:
- Using analytics to guide pandemic preparedness and support
- Tracking utilization during a period of forgone care
- Addressing historic health inequities
- Keeping drug costs manageable
- New drugs and new indications drive specialty
- Keeping specialty spend in check
- Connectivity as a lever to reduce waste, lower costs
- Tackling hyperinflation
- Reducing out-of-pocket costs
- Staying ahead of the evolving pharmacy landscape
Methodology: This report provides an overview of performance for CVS Health commercial PBM clients — employers and health plans. Data was calculated on a cohort of nearly 1,100 clients, covering 23 million lives. The cohort is built only on clients under our management throughout all of 2019 and 2020, excluding commercial clients with eligibility shifts exceeding 20 percent as well as any clients contractually prohibited from inclusion. Prescription drug trend is the measureof growth in prescription spending per member per month. Unless otherwise noted, reported data is net of negotiated pricing, rebates, and manufacturer discounts.
©2021 CVS Health. All rights reserved.