State Medicaid Outpatient Drug Utilization and Spending, 1996

State-reported data on covered outpatient drugs paid for by Medicaid agencies since the start of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. The dataset includes state, drug name, National Drug Code, number of prescriptions, and dollars reimbursed. It is provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing state-level prescription volume trends based on the number of prescriptions field.
• Comparing drug reimbursement costs across states based on the dollars reimbursed field.
• Tracking the utilization of specific medications within Medicaid programs based on drug name and National Drug Code.
• Studying the financial impact of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program based on reported spending data.

Strengths

• Includes key financial and utilization metrics: number of prescriptions and dollars reimbursed.
• Provides drug identification via National Drug Code and drug name.
• Data is reported by states for a federal program, suggesting a standardized reporting source.
• Documentation is available via a dedicated FAQ on Medicaid.gov.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, via state Medicaid agencies.

Collection Method

Reported by states for covered outpatient drugs paid for by Medicaid.

Time Range

Data from 1996 onward (program start). The specific dataset title references 1996.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-08 20:34:29.038013; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United States, with state-level breakdowns.