While the nation’s primary healthcare focus remains on the COVID-19 pandemic as we move through the third year of its disruptive effects and the death toll approaches 1 million, other important dynamics are playing out with respect to the utilization of health services, the use of prescription medicines, and the associated spending levels, including patient out-of-pocket costs. Understanding these elements of the health system and how they may evolve over the next five years remains critical to decision-makers and stakeholders – including patients.
This annual trend report is intended to provide a grounding in relevant information across a range of issues with both short- and long-term implications. This is the third report to include the impact of the pandemic on the Health Services Utilization Index, which offers a solid foundation for interpreting trends in the use of medicines and spending and growth drivers. Trends in the use of and spending on medicines illustrate the resilience of the system to the pandemic, and in general, are predominately driven by an aging population with chronic diseases or diseases of aging, including cancer.
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