--- title: Prescription Drug Coverage for Persons with CKD - 2018 description: A look at prescription drug coverage for CKD patients gleaned from 2018 USRDS Annual Data Report. image: https://blog.transonic.com/hubfs/kidney%20care%20news-3.jpg --- [![Customer Login](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/40716/9ebb5f25-e3e3-45fd-b525-1b9073c47d36.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/40716/9ebb5f25-e3e3-45fd-b525-1b9073c47d36) [![Transonic_logo-456](https://blog.transonic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/email-assets/newsletter/Transonic_logo-456.png?width=190&height=50&name=Transonic_logo-456.png "Transonic_logo-456")](https://www.transonic.com/) [![Talk with an Expert](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/40716/44c87484-21b7-4747-832d-28806f592c2d.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/40716/44c87484-21b7-4747-832d-28806f592c2d) ![mail-icon](https://blog.transonic.com/hubfs/Transonic_2019/Images/mail-icon.png) ## Hear more from our team: - [** ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://blog.transonic.com/hemodialysis/prescription-drug-coverage-for-persons-with-ckd-2018&title=Prescription%20Drug%20Coverage%20for%20Persons%20with%20CKD%20-%202018&picture=https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/40716/kidney%20care%20news-3.jpg&description=A%20look%20at%20prescription%20drug%20coverage%20for%20CKD%20patients%20gleaned%20from%202018%20USRDS%20Annual%20Data%20Report.) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.transonic.com/hemodialysis/prescription-drug-coverage-for-persons-with-ckd-2018&title=Prescription%20Drug%20Coverage%20for%20Persons%20with%20CKD%20-%202018&summary=A%20look%20at%20prescription%20drug%20coverage%20for%20CKD%20patients%20gleaned%20from%202018%20USRDS%20Annual%20Data%20Report.) - - [**](mailto:?subjetc=&body=Prescription+Drug+Coverage+for+Persons+with+CKD+-+2018%20-%20https://blog.transonic.com/hemodialysis/prescription-drug-coverage-for-persons-with-ckd-2018) # Prescription Drug Coverage for Persons with CKD - 2018 By [Susan Eymann, MS](https://blog.transonic.com/hemodialysis/author/susan-eymann-ms)09 Mar 2020 *(Gleaned from the 2018 USRDS Annual Data Report: Volume 1, Chapter 8: [www.usrds.org)](https://www.usrds.org/media/1693/v1_00_execsummary_18.pdf)* Pharmaceutical therapy serves as a critical part of CKD treatment in order to control and reduce complications and delay the progression of the disease. Therefore, a new chapter ![kidney care news-3](https://blog.transonic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/kidney%20care%20news-3.jpg?width=300&name=kidney%20care%20news-3.jpg)about prescription drug coverage to persons with chronic kidney disease (CKD) was added to the USRDS 2018 Annual Data Report (ADR), particularly in light of the continuing prescription opioid epidemic. ## Highlights: - Approximately 73.7% of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients enrolled in Medicare Part D in 2016, which was slightly higher than general Medicare enrollment at 69.5%. - As compared to White beneficiaries (29.3%), much higher proportions of Asian (73.8%) and African American (62.8%) CKD Part D beneficiaries qualified for the Low-Income Subsidy LIS). - Among patients with stand-alone Part D Medicare plans, per person per year (PPPY) insurance spending on prescriptions was 1.6 times higher for Medicare patients with CKD ($4,941) than for general beneficiaries ($3,027) in 2016. - Total spending for Part D-covered medications in 2016 was more than twice as high for patients with the LIS than for those without, regardless of the presence of CKD. Patient out-of-pocket costs for LIS patients represented only a 1.2% to 1.3% share of these total expenditures, as compared to 25.3% to 27.0% in each of the non-LIS populations. - Prescriptions for lipid-lowering agents, antibacterials, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, and β-adrenergic blocking agents (beta blockers) were each filled by more than 50% of Medicare CKD patients during 2016 CKD patients with Medicare Advantage and managed care coverage showed similar patterns of use for these drug classes. - By drug class, the highest medication expenditures for patients with CKD were for antidiabetic agents, followed by antineoplastic agents, antivirals and lipid-lowering agents. - In the United States, the overall proportion of CKD patients using prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) was 16.4% and opioids were 43.8%. 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View our [Privacy Policy.](https://www.transonic.com/privacy) - - [**](https://www.facebook.com/TransonicSystems) - [**](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpl6ULRsRfoB1TFvukukaw) - [**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transonic-systems-inc-) ![](https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconversion/881678749/?value=0&guid=ON&script=0) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Susan Eymann, MS", "url" : "https://blog.transonic.com/hemodialysis/author/susan-eymann-ms" }, "dateModified" : "2023-06-19T19:57:44.255Z", "datePublished" : "2020-03-09T14:30:00.000Z", "headline" : "Prescription Drug Coverage for Persons with CKD - 2018", "image" : [ "https://blog.transonic.com/hubfs/kidney%20care%20news-3.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.transonic.com/hemodialysis/prescription-drug-coverage-for-persons-with-ckd-2018", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.transonic.com/hubfs/Transonic_New_Spot.png" }, "name" : "Transonic Systems" } } ```