A paper by Institute senior economist Marcus Dillender appears in the latest issue of Journal of Public Economics. In "What happens when the insurer can say no? Assessing prior authorization as a tool to prevent high-risk prescriptions and to lower costs," Dillender estimates the effect of a prior authorization requirement for certain costly and abuse-prone drugs on prescription drug use and costs for work-related injuries in Texas. His findings indicate that the prior authorization requirement reduces the likelihood that claimants receive nonpreferred drugs as well as insurers' spending on nonpreferred drugs.
