BrickStreet's efforts to emphasize the prescription of generic medications and adhere to a preferred drug list in effectively treating claimant injuries and illnesses help hold the line on costs for our company and our policyholders.

Our Pharmacy Unit reports that claimants filled 2,053 prescriptions last month at a cost of $93,689. Both numbers are down significantly from the same month last year.

But here's the real eye-opener. Although the percentage of brand medications prescribed (14%) is dwarfed by the percentage of generics (86%), the brand meds still cost more -- $51,684 to $42,006, respectively.

The same phenomenon plays out in each month of the first quarter as well. In January, BrickStreet claimants filled 2,089 prescriptions – 19.8 percent brand vs. 80.2 percent generic. The cost of the brand medications was $51,992 while the cost of the generics was $37,022.

In February, claimant filled 1,835 prescriptions, 21.4 percent brand and 78.6 percent generic. The cost of the brand meds was $56,637 while the cost of the generics was $34,191. The March numbers were nearly identical: 1,933 prescriptions; 21.6 percent brand vs. 78.4 percent generic; brand cost $47,864 vs. generic cost $38,122.