New Research for 2026
Physician Drug Cost Survey 2026
Here, in physicians’ own numbers: what they see, what it costs them, and what would make it easier to act on.
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All 28 questions, four cross-insight patterns, and a framework for physician-directed affordability.
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What a week actually costs
The burden does not arrive from one direction
No single question in this survey captures the full weight of drug cost burden on a physician’s week. Taken together, four separate questions show it arriving from every direction at once: the phone, the chart, the prior authorization queue, and the step therapy queue.
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The phone Q1
84%
of practices field five or more patient calls a week about high-cost prescriptions, and more than a third field 15 or more.
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The chart Q6
66%
of physicians spend five or more hours a week resolving medication cost issues, after a prescription has already been written.
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The PA queue Q16
72%
of physicians spend five or more hours a week on prior authorization approvals alone.
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The step therapy queue Q17
53%
of physicians spend three or more hours a week on step therapy compliance, on top of prior authorization.
What the report answers
The questions this survey settles
This white paper examines how prescription drug cost pressure reaches physicians after a prescription is written, and how it shapes prescribing behavior, trust in payer outreach, and administrative load. Twenty-eight questions, answered by prescribers themselves.
- How often a patient quietly stops a medication over cost, and why better record-keeping does not close the gap.
- What share of prescribers are comfortable switching to a lower-cost alternative, and what stops them doing it at scale.
- Why payer and PBM outreach reaches most physicians and changes almost nothing.
- What physicians say would actually make that outreach useful.
- Which barrier stalls deprescribing more than time pressure does.
- Where real-time benefit tools sit in the prescribing workflow, in prescribers’ own words.
Every figure, every answer set, and the four cross-insight patterns are in the report. Get the report
Both sides of the prescription
The one question where both sides agree
We asked members and physicians the same question from opposite ends of the prescription. On this one, they agree. Almost exactly.
At the pharmacy counter
Members
84%
want their provider to switch them to the lowest-cost option automatically.
2026 State of Drug Access Survey, Q7, n=1,000
In the exam room
Physicians
95%
are comfortable making exactly that switch.
2026 Physician Drug Cost Survey, Q8, n=104
Willingness was never the bottleneck. The workflow is.
Two groups want the same thing, in almost the same numbers, and nothing carries it between them. Finding the lower-cost option for each patient is what takes the time.
Two independent samples, asked separately.
Inside the report
- 28survey questions
- 8topic areas
- 104U.S. physicians
- 4cross-insight patterns
Formulary and Cost Awareness
How often cost friction reaches the physician’s desk, and how well existing tools keep pace with it. Q1 to Q4.
Patient Conversations
What physicians do when a prescription turns out to be unaffordable, and how much of the problem never reaches them at all. Q5 to Q7.
Recommending Alternatives
Comfort with switching, and willingness to extend one fix across a full patient panel. Q8 to Q9.
PBM and Payer Outreach
Whether reach is converting into action, or simply adding to the noise. Q10 to Q12.
Workflow Friction
What prior authorization, step therapy, and real-time benefit tools actually consume. Q13 to Q18.
Biosimilars
Prescribing confidence, the leading barrier, and payer substitution without physician sign-off. Q19 to Q21.
Polypharmacy and Deprescribing
How often physicians raise it, what stops them, and how well they can see what a patient is taking. Q22 to Q27.
AI and Technology
Where adoption stands among the same prescribers absorbing the cost burden. Q28.
Methods and limitations
How this survey was run
- 104physicians completed the survey
- Jun to Augfielded in 2026
- $75honorarium per completed response
- Wave 1of an annual series
This survey fielded from June through August 2026 to a national list of licensed prescribers. Participation was voluntary and incentivized.
Because participation was opt-in and incentivized, this sample should be read as a targeted snapshot of engaged prescribers rather than a random or representative sample of U.S. physicians. Findings are directional and useful for identifying patterns in physician-reported behavior, not for population-level estimates.
All findings reflect self-reported experience rather than verified claims, EHR, or prior authorization system data. RazorMetrics intends to field this survey annually to build a longitudinal view of physician-reported cost burden.
Timing and delivery, not physician willingness, are the bottleneck in drug cost management.
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