When determining the reasonable charges for past or future medical care, one important part is estimating the reasonable charge for prescription medications.
Determining the reasonable charge for prescription medications requires a different approach than determining the reasonable charge for other types of medical care. While there are publicly available claims databases that allow researchers to know what is charged for care by doctors, therapists, hospitals, and others, there are no similar public databases for prescription drugs. Previously, RPC performed a telephonic survey of retail pharmacies in a medical market to determine the reasonable charge for prescription drugs.
We now obtain price information from Amazon Pharmacy online. Using Amazon Pharmacy prices to determine the reasonable charges and value of prescription drugs has several benefits over a price survey. Amazon Pharmacy is licensed and operates in all 50 states, because of this, it is a consistent data source for all cases. Amazon Pharmacy prices are comparable to prices from major retail pharmacies, and with a Prime Card, Amazon Pharmacy prices are available at many retail pharmacies.
RPC began using the Amazon Pricing method for all reviews on September 14, 2023, the publication date of this white paper. Learn more about the Amazon pricing method and the difference between Amazon and the survey method.
Dr. Brian Piper authored RPC’s white paper on “Using Amazon Pharmacy Prices to Determine the Reasonable Charges and Reasonable Value of Prescription Drugs”. Dr. Piper is an economist who has been accepted as an expert witness in personal injury and other economic damages cases.