Employers Need to Have a Wider Horizon Than Drug Costs Alone When Considering the Implementation of Health Care Intervention Programs

The study of Mabasa and Ma in a previous issue of JMCP reports on the successful utilization and drug cost savings for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in a Canadian employer-sponsored drug plan that implemented a therapeutic maximum allowable cost (MAC) program.1 Any successful health care intervention program aiming to maximize value for money is praiseworthy, especially for diseases that are associated with a high prevalence and/or have high treatment costs. From an employer perspective, however, the current study is associated with a number of fundamental flaws that are essential to point out if similar intervention programs are to be planned and implemented.