ArticleNeurology2019
Out-of-pocket costs are on the rise for commonly prescribed neurologic medications.
Article in Neurology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Economic burden of multiple sclerosis in the United States: A systematic literature review.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2023Pooled it
- Health disparities in neurology.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
- Ensuring Access to Neurologic Care: Challenges and Opportunities.Seminars in neurology · 2025Review
- Neurologic Medication Costs in a Direct-to-Consumer Pharmacy vs Commercial Insurance Plans.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Achieving epilepsy care for all: Ecosystem-based transformation.Epilepsia · 2025Review
- Management and Outcomes in Confirmed or Suspected Acute Symptomatic Seizure: Role of Structured Outpatient Care.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2025Article
- Cost Trends of New-To-Market Neurologic Medications: An Insurance Claims Database Analysis.Neurology · 2025Article
- Patient and Physician Perspectives of Treatment Burden in Multiple Sclerosis.Neurology and therapy · 2024Article
- Costs of Potential Medication Wastage Due to Switching Treatment Among People With Multiple Sclerosis.Journal of health economics and outcomes research · 2024Article
- Article
- Costs and Utilization of New-to-Market Neurologic Medications.Neurology · 2023Article
- Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Seizure Prophylaxis Among Adults After Acute Ischemic Stroke.Stroke · 2023Article
- Low-dose rituximab should be used for treating MS in resource-limited settings: Yes.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2022Article
- Study of Hospitalization Costs in Patients with Cerebral Ischemia Based on E-CHAID Algorithm.Journal of healthcare engineering · 2022Article
- Economic burden of comorbid chronic conditions among survivors of stroke in China: 10-year longitudinal study.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Closing the Part D Coverage Gap and Out-of-Pocket Costs for Multiple Sclerosis Drugs.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2021Article
- Current and emerging disease-modulatory therapies and treatment targets for multiple sclerosis.Journal of internal medicine · 2021Review
- Economics of Multiple Sclerosis Disease-Modifying Therapies in the USA.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2021Review
- Article
- Health economics of disease-modifying therapy for multiple sclerosis in the United States.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine out-of-pocket costs for neurologic medications in 5 common neurologic diseases.
methodsUtilizing a large, privately insured, health care claims database from 2004 to 2016, we captured out-of-pocket medication costs for patients seen by outpatient neurologists with multiple sclerosis (MS), peripheral neuropathy, epilepsy, dementia, and Parkinson disease (PD). We compared out-of-pocket costs for those in high-deductible health plans compared to traditional plans and explored cumulative out-of-pocket costs over the first 2 years after diagnosis across conditions with high- (MS) and low/medium-cost (epilepsy) medications.
resultsThe population consisted of 105,355 patients with MS, 314,530 with peripheral neuropathy, 281,073 with epilepsy, 120,720 with dementia, and 90,801 with PD. MS medications had the fastest rise in monthly out-of-pocket expenses (mean [SD] $15 [$23] in 2004, $309 [$593] in 2016) with minimal differences between medications. Out-of-pocket costs for brand name medications in the other conditions also rose considerably. Patients in high-deductible health plans incurred approximately twice the monthly out-of-pocket expense as compared to those not in these plans ($661 [$964] vs $246 [$472] in MS, $40 [$94] vs $18 [$46] in epilepsy in 2016). Cumulative 2-year out-of-pocket costs rose almost linearly over time in MS ($2,238 [$3,342]) and epilepsy ($230 [$443]).
conclusionsOut-of-pocket costs for neurologic medications have increased considerably over the last 12 years, particularly for those in high-deductible health plans. Out-of-pocket costs vary widely both across and within conditions. To minimize patient financial burden, neurologists require access to precise cost information when making treatment decisions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.