Non-Medical Switching May Increase Health Care Costs, New Study Finds
Opting for cheaper prescription drugs seems like an obvious way to cut health care costs. The assumption has led health plans to employ utilization management techniques with increasing frequency in recent years. And it’s given rise to a newer phenomenon known as “non-medical switching,” where health plans exclude a drug from coverage or increase patients’ out-of-pocket burden in hopes of persuading patients to take a less expensive drug.
