First care coordination is debunked, and now this? A new study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Managed Care rips another page from the cost-containment playbook and turns it into confetti, concluding that step therapy — which substitutes “Mercedes” brand-name prescription medicines for less expensive “Saturn” generics — may actually increase health care costs.
The study, which was narrowed to medications to treat hypertension, found step therapy participants posted $99 more in quarterly health care expenditures and had more inpatient admissions and emergency room visits.
