Aligning Incentives Is Key To Driving Down Drug Costs

When it comes to the high cost of drugs, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

“You hear a lot of finger pointing and blaming as to who is to (responsible) for high drug costs. I’ll actually make the argument that it’s everybody,” Arif Khan, Vice President, Enterprise Strategy, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, said during an interview at the 2023 Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Summit. “What we find though, is high drug cost is now untenable for the future of healthcare because people can’t afford the medications they need to live healthy lives.”

Rather than pointing fingers, Khan said there are opportunities for industry stakeholders to work together. It is particularly important that there’s more transparency and that incentives are aligned across organizations.

He noted that BCBSNC is bringing new innovations to market, like a program to create more competition among specialty pharmacies and hopefully increase access to those drugs.