Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) Increase Report Data – Cumulative
Since reporting to HCAI began, prescription drugs with a WAC greater than $1,000 saw the highest number of reported quarterly WAC increases (593 reports) in Q1 2023.
HCAI collects and publishes information on prescription drugs with a Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) increase exceeding a specified threshold.
The visualizations below include submitted WAC increase data from Q1 2019 through Q4 2023. The visualizations display data that shows Median Cumulative WAC Percent Increase for the number of reports received in each quarter. The visualizations allow you to filter through the data by WAC Price Category and Drug Source Type. Since reporting began, prescription drugs with a WAC between $1,001.01 and $10,000 have seen the least fluctuation in their reported median cumulative WAC percent increases quarter over quarter.
- Learn more about the Prescription Drug Cost Transparency Program
- View other Prescription Drug Cost Transparency Public Reports
Median Percent Increase – WAC Price Category
Key Findings
- Since reporting to HCAI began, prescription drugs with a WAC greater than $1,000 saw the highest number of reported quarterly WAC increases (593 reports) in Q1 2023.
- Since reporting to HCAI began, prescription drugs with a WAC greater than $10,000 saw the highest number of reported quarterly WAC increases (188 reports) in Q1 2023.
- In Q1 2023, prescription drugs with a WAC of $1,000 or less experienced their smallest median cumulative WAC percent increase from 2019 to 2023 (19.9 percent).
- In Q4 2023, prescription drugs with a WAC greater than $1,000 saw their smallest median cumulative WAC percent increase from 2019 to 2023 (20 percent).
Median Percent Increase – Drug Source Type
Key Findings
- Single Source Drugs had the highest volume of reports submitted in Q1 2023 (696 reports) for any reporting quarter.
- Innovator Multiple Source Drugs experienced the lowest median cumulative WAC percent increase in Q1 2023 (17.7 percent) for any reporting quarter.
- Since reporting to HCAI began, Non-innovator Multiple Source Drugs saw the third highest quarterly median cumulative WAC percent increase in Q4 2023 for any reporting quarter.
How HCAI Created This Product
Prescription Drug WAC Increase data for 2023 from the Cost Transparency Prescription Drug Program (CTRx).
Note: Reported increases that do not meet the statutory requirements for reporting and prescription drugs that do not meet the definition for reporting under the Regulations and Section 321(g) of Title 21 of the United States Code were not included in the visualizations. Reports not meeting statutory requirements were: Reports not meeting statutory requirements were: 58 of 1,407 (4.1 percent) in 2019; 37 of 1,251 (3.0 percent) in 2020; 45 of 1,054 (4.3 percent) in 2021; 66 of 1,270 reports (5.1 percent) in 2022; and 34 of 1,507 reports (2.3 percent) in 2023. In addition, approximately 63 percent of reports from 2019 through 2023 did not include any reason(s) for the reported WAC increases due to the information not already being in the public domain.
Resources
Note:
- The 3-year median percent increase is based on submitted WAC increase data. The dataset is subject to reporting.
- The dataset includes only complete reports submitted by manufacturers for WAC increases made in Q1 2019 through Q4 2023, not including reports that do not meet the specified minimum thresholds for reporting.
- Manufacturers can submit late reports; WAC increase reports submitted after February 13, 2024, are not included in the data.
Additional Information
Topic: Cost Transparency
Source Link: Cost Transparency – Prescription Drug (Rx) Costs
Citation: HCAI – Prescription Drug Cost Transparency, Cumulative 2019 – 2023
Temporal Coverage: 2019 – 2023
Spatial/Geographic Coverage: Statewide
Frequency: Annually