Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease, mainly characterized by inflammation of the lining, or synovium, of the small joints in a person’s hands and feet. It causes painful swelling that can eventually lead to long-term joint damage, resulting in bone erosion, chronic pain, joint deformity, loss of function, and disability.

According to the survey, 38% of respondents have between 1001 and 10,000 covered lives that are affected by rheumatoid arthritis.

When asked if their plan requires disease-modifying antirheumatic drug step edits, 76.2% of respondents said that they would require step edits. Of these respondents, 56.7% develop their step edits based on internal guidelines.

In terms of using biologics to treat rheumatoid arthritis, 83.3% of respondents require prior authorization. When asked where biologics ranked in regard to total drug spending for specialty drugs, 35.7% of respondents ranked the biologics option in the top 6% to 10% of specialty drug spending.

Because agents used to treat psoriasis are often used to treat rheumatoid arthritis as well, the survey participants were asked if different agents were preferred in the treatment of psoriasis versus rheumatoid arthritis; 66.7% of respondents answered “no.”