A new study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) compared the difference in price for 72 physician-administered outpatient medicines – representing 73% of medicine spending – depending on whether they were administered at a hospital outpatient department or physician’s office. Not surprisingly, EBRI found employers and plans paid hospitals significantly more than physicians for the exact same treatment, suggesting employers and their workers could save money if these pricing differentials are addressed. This study comes on the tail of another EBRI study, which found hospital outpatient departments mark up the cost of oncology drugs by an average of 223%, which, in just one year of paying physician prices instead of hospital prices, could lead to employers saving an average of almost $10,000 per covered cancer patient.
