Prescription Drug Prices: Official Index Overstates Producer Price
Inflation (Letter Report, 04/28/95, GAO/HEHS-95-90).

During the 1980s and 1990s, the prices of prescription drugs rose on
average at triple the rate of inflation, according to U.S. government
statistics.  As Congress debated whether to curb drug price increases,
research questioning the accuracy of the price statistics--especially
the producer price index for prescription drugs published by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics--was in its early stages.  Today, a body of research
urges the reexamination of the accuracy of the producer price index for
prescription drugs.  This report (1) reviews the accuracy of the
producer price index for prescription drugs as a measure of drug price
inflation, (2) describes whether the index could be changed to more
accurately measure changes in the cost of buying drugs, and (3) provides
guidance on appropriate uses and common misuses of price indexes.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  HEHS-95-90
     TITLE:  Prescription Drug Prices: Official Index Overstates 
             Producer Price Inflation
      DATE:  04/28/95
   SUBJECT:  Pharmaceutical industry
             Price adjustments
             Controlled substances
             Price indexes
             Drugs
             Price regulation
             Inflation
             Cost analysis
             Pharmacological research
             Health care cost control
IDENTIFIER:  Consumer Price Index
             Producer Price Index
             
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