Health services utilization with reference drug pricing of histamine(2) receptor antagonists in British Columbia elderly.

BACKGROUND

In October 1995, British Columbia introduced a reference pricing policy for five therapeutic classes of drugs, including histamine(2) receptor antagonists (H(2)RAs), for beneficiaries of its prescription drug program, Pharmacare.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate utilization trends in consumption of health services in a cohort of Pharmacare beneficiaries to determine if a worsening of health outcomes could be detected after implementation of the reference pricing policy.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Two cohorts, "control" (21 months before the reference pricing policy) and "exposed" (at risk for policy effects), were followed for 21 months. Using a longitudinal generalized linear model (Poisson), and controlling for age, sex, and prescriptions in unique drug classes, trend lines in each of these time series were compared for 3 periods: 9 months before policy implementation (or corresponding index date in the control cohort), 6 months after policy implementation, and a subsequent 6-month period.

SUBJECTS

Two cohorts, each of size 10,000, were constructed by randomly sampling the population of Pharmacare beneficiaries exposed to H(2)RAs and other antisecretory drugs for 1993 through 1996.

MEASURES

Prescriptions, physician office visits and associated transactions (ie, laboratory tests), emergency room visits, hospitalizations, hospital length of stay, and vital statistics.

RESULTS

Differences between periods and between cohorts for health services utilization were not significant or decreased after imposition of the reference pricing policy.

CONCLUSION

For these measures, there has been no worsening of health outcomes associated with implementing the reference pricing policy.