A new survey by Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier, Inc., a healthcare improvement company, revealed the rising costs and ongoing shortages of pharmaceutical drugs are main areas of concern for many health system C-suite executives.
Premier's biannual Economic Outlook survey highlights economic and industry trends impacting health systems. The fall 2015 survey focused on healthcare's integrated pharmacy systems.
As part of the online survey, Premier asked 55 C-suite respondents — mainly CEOs, CFOs and COOs — questions relating to pharmaceutical prices and drug shortages. Approximately 98.1 percent of executives said pharmaceutical prices pose a challenge for their organization (57.7 percent strongly agreed, 34.6 percent agreed and 5.8 percent moderately agreed). About 94.5 percent of executives said drug shortages will be a problem for their organization over the next three years (37.7 percent strongly agreed, 45 percent agreed and 11.8 percent moderately agreed).
Evidence of the concerns was echoed in a 2014 Premier analysis, which found drug shortages increased hospital costs by an average of $230 million per year.