Preventive Drug Lists Can Boost Workers’ Health, Study Suggests

A study published this month in JAMA Health Forum indicates people with diabetes can see short-term health benefits from enrolling in plans offering preventive drug lists (PDLs) that sharply reduce or eliminate cost-sharing for certain medications. However, the study’s lead author and a pharmacy benefits consultant tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that more work needs to be done to evaluate whether such programs are cost-effective for employer-sponsored plans.

Still, they were encouraged with the results, which found that people who switched to plans with PDLs had an 8.4% reduction in acute, preventable diabetes complication days compared with the non-PDL group. In addition, there was a 10.4% reduction in preventable diabetes complication days among members from lower-income areas who switched to PDLs.