Explore the Data
Box 1: Daily Cumulative Net Price Increases

Box 1: Daily Cumulative Net Price Increases

What this shows: This chart tracks the net balance of price increases versus decreases for pharmaceutical products, accumulated day-by-day throughout each year. Each line represents a full year, starting at zero on January 1st.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Y-axis: Cumulative net increase count (price increases minus decreases)
  • X-axis: Day of year (1-365), with quarterly markers for reference
  • Each line: Represents one year's trajectory of net price movements
  • Upward slope: More price increases than decreases in that period
  • Flat or declining: Balanced pricing or more decreases than increases
  • Steep spikes: Periods of concentrated price increase activity

🎯 How to Use

Year Selection: Use the year controls to compare pricing behavior across different years. Multiple years can be overlaid to identify trends or changes in pricing patterns.

Labeler Filtering: Select specific pharmaceutical manufacturers in the sidebar to analyze their pricing behavior or compare across companies.

Seasonal Analysis: Look for patterns like year-end pricing adjustments or quarter-specific increases.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Identify which years had the most aggressive pricing strategies
  • Spot seasonal patterns (e.g., Q4 price increase surges)
  • Compare different manufacturers' pricing timing strategies
  • Detect unusual spikes that may correspond to market events
📌 Note: Each data point represents a net change. A product with one increase and one decrease on the same day contributes zero to the cumulative total, while a product with only an increase adds +1.
Box 2: Monthly Net Price Change Distribution

Box 2: Monthly Net Price Change Distribution

What this shows: This heatmap displays the monthly distribution of net price changes (increases minus decreases) as a percentage of each year's total price change activity. Darker colors indicate months with higher concentrations of pricing activity.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Rows: Each row represents one year of pricing data
  • Columns: Each column represents a month (Jan-Dec)
  • Color Intensity: Darker shades indicate higher percentage of that year's net price changes
  • Cell Values: Show the actual net increase count for that month
  • Diverging Colors: Red indicates increases, blue indicates decreases

🎯 How to Use

Product Filtering: Select specific pharmaceutical products in the sidebar to analyze their monthly pricing patterns.

Labeler Filtering: Choose manufacturers to compare their seasonal pricing strategies across years.

Pattern Recognition: Look for consistent monthly patterns that reveal strategic timing of price increases.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Identify seasonal pricing patterns (e.g., January or Q4 increases)
  • Compare how pricing strategies have evolved year-over-year
  • Spot anomalous months with unusually high price change activity
  • Detect shifts in manufacturer pricing timing strategies
📌 Note: Percentages are calculated relative to each year's total, allowing fair comparison even when absolute volumes differ across years.
Box 3: Median Annual WAC Price Increases

Box 3: Median Annual WAC Price Increases

What this shows: This bar chart displays the median Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) price increase percentage for each year. The median represents the middle value, showing typical price increase behavior while minimizing the effect of extreme outliers.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Y-axis: Median percentage price increase
  • X-axis: Year
  • Bar Color: Intensity reflects magnitude of increase (darker = higher)
  • Values Above Bars: Exact median percentage for each year
  • Trend Analysis: Compare bar heights to identify acceleration or moderation in pricing

🎯 How to Use

Product Filtering: Select specific products to see their median price increase trends over time.

Labeler Filtering: Filter by manufacturer to compare pricing aggressiveness across companies.

Year-over-Year Analysis: Identify periods of pricing acceleration or stabilization.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Years with unusually high or low median increases
  • Long-term trends showing escalating or moderating price increases
  • Impact of market events or policy changes on pricing behavior
  • Comparison between different manufacturers' pricing strategies
📌 Note: Using the median instead of average provides a more robust measure of typical price increases, as it's less affected by extreme values.
Box 4: Medicaid Spending Impact Analysis

Box 4: Medicaid Spending Impact Analysis

What this shows: This grouped bar chart compares Medicaid spending changes from two perspectives: spending change considering only drugs with price changes versus spending change across all drugs including those with stable prices. This reveals the "dilution effect" of including stable-priced drugs.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Red Bars: Spending change percentage for drugs that had price changes
  • Blue Bars: Spending change percentage when including all drugs (diluted impact)
  • Gap Between Bars: Shows how much the impact is reduced by including stable-priced drugs
  • Subtitle: Displays average dilution effect in percentage points
  • Zero Line: Reference line to assess positive vs negative spending changes

🎯 How to Use

Comparative Analysis: Compare the height difference between red and blue bars to understand how stable-priced drugs moderate overall spending impact.

Trend Identification: Track whether the dilution effect is consistent or changing over time.

Policy Context: Use this analysis to understand the true impact of price increases on Medicaid budgets.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Years where price-changed drugs drove the largest spending increases
  • How much stable-priced drugs buffer the overall spending impact
  • Trends in the dilution effect over time
  • Comparison of spending impacts across different years
📌 Note: The dilution effect shows that when analyzing spending impacts, considering only price-changed drugs provides a clearer picture of pricing-driven changes.
Box 5: Medicaid Brand Drug Price Impact

Box 5: Medicaid Brand Drug Price Impact

What this shows: This chart displays the year-over-year price impact on Medicaid spending for brand drugs. It measures how much Medicaid spending changed due to price increases, expressed as a percentage of the previous year's spending.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Y-axis: Percentage impact on Medicaid spending due to price changes
  • X-axis: Year
  • Bar Color Gradient: Darker colors indicate larger price impacts
  • Values Above Bars: Precise percentage impact for each year
  • Color Bar: Visual scale showing impact magnitude

🎯 How to Use

Budget Impact Analysis: Assess which years had the highest price-driven spending increases for Medicaid.

Trend Analysis: Identify whether price impacts are accelerating or moderating over time.

Policy Planning: Use historical trends to forecast future budget pressures from drug price increases.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Peak years with the highest price-driven spending increases
  • Multi-year trends showing sustained or declining impacts
  • Potential correlation with policy changes or market events
  • Magnitude of spending pressure from brand drug price increases
📌 Note: This metric isolates the impact of price changes on spending, separate from volume changes or drug mix shifts.
Box 6: Average Medicaid Price Per Prescription Analysis

Box 6: Average Medicaid Price Per Prescription Analysis

What this shows: This chart compares the observed average price per prescription with the projected average if new prices were applied, including linear regression trend lines to forecast future pricing trajectories. It helps visualize both historical pricing and projected future impacts.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Solid Lines: Historical data for observed vs new average prices
  • Dashed Lines: Linear regression projections into future years
  • Gap Between Lines: Shows the incremental cost impact of new pricing
  • Trend Slopes: Indicate rate of price escalation over time
  • Legend: Distinguishes between observed prices and new price scenarios

🎯 How to Use

Forecasting: Use the trend lines to project future average prescription costs for budget planning.

Impact Assessment: Compare the two lines to quantify how price increases affect per-prescription spending.

Policy Modeling: Apply these trends to estimate multi-year budget impacts if pricing patterns continue.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Rate of price acceleration (steepness of trend lines)
  • Growing gap between observed and new pricing scenarios
  • Projected costs for upcoming years based on historical trends
  • Points where trend lines suggest concerning cost thresholds
📌 Note: Linear regression assumes historical trends continue. Actual future prices may deviate due to policy changes, market dynamics, or other factors.
Box 7: CPI Comparison



CPI Data: Brand Drug Price Impact vs Consumer Inflation

What this shows: This section compares the Medicaid spending impact driven by brand drug price changes (SDUD) against the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation. The comparison chart visualizes how much drug pricing outpaces general economic inflation, with shaded areas and bars showing the excess over CPI for each year.

📊 How to Read This Section

  • Red Line (SDUD): Annual spending change percentage for drugs with price increases, weighted by Medicaid spending
  • Blue Line (CPI): Consumer Price Index inflation rate as an economic benchmark
  • Shaded Area: Gap between SDUD and CPI—larger gaps indicate drug prices outpacing inflation
  • Bottom Bars: Excess over CPI in percentage points (orange = above CPI, teal = below CPI)
  • Dotted Lines: Average values across all years for both metrics
  • Gap Annotation: Shows the current year's difference between SDUD and CPI
  • Cumulative CPI Plot: Shows total inflation accumulation over the selected period
  • Annual CPI Plot: Displays year-over-year inflation rates for comparison

🎯 How to Use

Year Range Selection: Use the year slider to focus on specific periods matching your drug price analysis.

Inflation Comparison: Compare the red SDUD line against the blue CPI line to see how drug spending impacts compare to general inflation.

Excess Analysis: Use the bottom bars to quickly identify years where drug pricing significantly exceeded (or fell below) CPI.

Trend Assessment: Track whether the gap between drug spending impact and CPI is widening or narrowing over time.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Years where SDUD significantly exceeds CPI indicate aggressive drug pricing
  • Consistent gaps suggest structural pricing power beyond inflation adjustments
  • Average excess (shown in subtitle) quantifies typical annual overage
  • Narrowing gaps may indicate policy impacts or market moderation
  • Cumulative divergence between drug prices and general inflation
  • Long-term trends showing drug pricing outpacing economic growth
  • Compare peak years to identify periods of greatest pricing pressure
📌 Note: SDUD spending impact measures how much Medicaid spending changed due to price increases for drugs that had price changes. CPI provides context—if drug prices only rose with inflation, the lines would overlap. Drug prices consistently exceeding CPI indicate pricing power beyond cost-of-living adjustments.
Box 8: Price Distribution Statistical Summary

Box Plot: Price Distribution Statistical Summary

What this shows: This box plot provides a statistical summary of price distributions, displaying the median, quartiles, range, and outliers for selected products and labelers. It offers a quick visual assessment of price variability and consistency.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Box: Represents the middle 50% of price data (25th to 75th percentile)
  • Line in Box: Shows the median (50th percentile) price
  • Whiskers: Extend to minimum and maximum values within 1.5× IQR
  • Points Beyond Whiskers: Outliers that fall outside the typical range
  • Box Width: Indicates the interquartile range (IQR), showing price variability

🎯 How to Use

Product Filtering: Select specific products to compare their price distribution characteristics.

Labeler Filtering: Filter by manufacturer to assess pricing consistency across companies.

Outlier Detection: Identify unusual pricing that may warrant further investigation.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Products with wide boxes have high price variability
  • Products with narrow boxes show consistent pricing
  • Outliers may indicate special pricing, errors, or unique market conditions
  • Compare median lines across products to identify pricing differences
📌 Note: Box plots are excellent for comparing distributions across multiple products simultaneously, revealing both central tendency and spread.
Box 9: SDUD Labeler Share

Labeler Share: Medicaid Brand Drug Spending Impact by Manufacturer

What this shows: This stacked area or bar chart displays which pharmaceutical manufacturers (labelers) contribute most to Medicaid brand drug spending changes over time. It reveals the top players driving spending increases and their relative market impact.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Stacked Segments: Each colored segment represents a different labeler's contribution
  • Segment Height: Shows the labeler's share of total spending changes
  • Time Series: X-axis shows years, revealing how labeler dominance evolves
  • Legend: Identifies which color corresponds to which manufacturer
  • Top Contributors: Usually shows top 10-15 labelers with significant impact

🎯 How to Use

Filter Options: Toggle between viewing price increases only or all price changes (increases and decreases) to see different perspectives.

Labeler Comparison: Identify which manufacturers have the largest impact on Medicaid spending changes.

Trend Analysis: Track how specific labelers' market impact has grown or shrunk over time.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Top labelers driving the largest share of Medicaid spending increases
  • Labelers with growing vs declining market impact over time
  • Market concentration—are spending changes dominated by few companies?
  • Year-over-year shifts in labeler rankings and contributions
📌 Note: This analysis helps identify accountability—showing which manufacturers' pricing decisions have the greatest budgetary impact on Medicaid programs.
Box 10: Therapeutic Class Impact

Therapeutic Class: Spending Impact by Drug Category

What this shows: This visualization displays how different therapeutic classes (drug categories) contribute to Medicaid brand drug spending changes over time. It reveals which types of medications—such as diabetes drugs, cancer treatments, or cardiovascular drugs—drive the largest spending increases.

📊 How to Read This Chart

  • Stacked Segments: Each colored segment represents a therapeutic class's contribution
  • Segment Height: Shows the class's share of total spending changes
  • Cumulative View: Displays total accumulated spending impact over time
  • Annual View: Shows each year's spending change distribution by class
  • Legend: Identifies therapeutic classes by color

🎯 How to Use

View Selection: Toggle between cumulative and annual views to see long-term accumulation versus year-by-year patterns.

Class Comparison: Identify which drug categories contribute most to spending pressures.

Priority Setting: Use this analysis to prioritize policy interventions or formulary management efforts.

💡 Key Insights to Look For

  • Therapeutic classes driving the largest share of spending increases
  • Emerging categories showing rapid spending growth
  • Stable vs volatile therapeutic class contributions over time
  • Classes where spending impact is accelerating or moderating
📌 Note: Understanding therapeutic class impacts helps target cost-containment efforts toward the categories with greatest budget pressure.