Description: Prescription drugs are a large portion of health care expenditures and are defined as those drugs which are ordered by a physician or other authorized medical personnel through written or verbal prescription for a pharmacist to fill for the patient. MEPS collects information from survey participants about their prescription drugs and then are asked for permission to collect more detailed information from their pharmacies. At the pharmacies, data are collected on the type, dosage, and payment for each filled prescription. No information is collected for over-the-counter medications. Prescribed drug expenditures in MEPS are defined as the sum of payments for care received, including out of pocket payments and payments made by private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare and other sources. The Prescribed Medicines Files are available as part of the event-level files. Information summarized to the person-level is available on the full-year consolidated files under the Household Full Year Files.

Data tables: For tables specifically on prescribed drug use/events and expenditures, go to the Table 2 series of the Expenditures by Health Care Service tables and the Prescription Drug tables of the HC Summary Data Tables.

Analytic tools: You can use the MEPSnet/HC query tool to generate your own estimates for prescribed drug use/event and expenditures. Select the Prescribed Medicines variables within the Utilization, Expenditures, and SOP Variable Group of the Variable Selection Query Tab.

AHRQ Podcasts: Healthcare 411 Series: Brand-name Drugs Increased Overall Spending for Prescription Drugs 01:00 (MM:SS)