Throughout the fall, policy makers in Massachusetts have sharpened their focus on the rise of pharmaceutical drug prices and their role in the growth of overall health care spending in the Commonwealth. Both the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) and the Office of Attorney General Maura Healey recently released reports addressing pharmaceutical spending, and the Health Policy Commission (HPC) discussed this issue extensively at its annual Cost Trends Hearings on October 17th and 18th.

In its annual report on the performance of the Massachusetts health care system released in September, CHIA reported that prescription drug spending in the state increased by 10.1% to $8.1 billion in 2015. This rate increase was below the 2014 rate increase of 13.5%. The report also notes that pharmaceutical spending accounted for one-third of the overall growth in total health care expenditures (THCE) in 2015.