In recent months, the healthcare industry has seen more and more issues related to escalating drug prices and problems related to people's access to life-sustaining medications. The prices of prescription drugs continue to increase in contrast to other healthcare costs, and officials hope to address these escalating costs through utilization management, waste and abuse management, and tools to evaluate prescription intentions.

In an election year, there has been increased attention placed on what the government can do to better manage these growing drug prices. The price escalations have garnered the attention of legislators and presidential candidates alike.

One notable case that brought this issue to the forefront was the 5,000 percent price increase of the Turing Pharmaceuticals drug, Daraprim (pyrimethamine) for toxoplasmosis infections. Daraprim became part of a recent trend in increasing the cost of older pharmaceutical drugs.

Given the unprofitable status of Daraprim at the former price, Turing CEO Martin Shkreli made the decision to increase the price to achieve a profit. Overnight, the price of Daraprim went from $13.50 per tablet to $750 per tablet, which sparked the attention of Congress. The cost of the drug was viewed to be unjustifiable for patients who are medically vulnerable and need this medication.

While the price of the drug ultimately went back down, this increase was enough to demonstrate that companies could choose to price their drugs at whatever amount they deem appropriate, and consumers would have to suffer the consequences of these actions.

In order to remedy this issue, President Barack Obama would have to partner with Congress to pass some form of legislation, which is unlikely to occur. On the campaign trail, presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have introduced various proposals on how to curtail increasing drug prices. These ideas include allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for high-cost drugs, placing a cap on the amount that patients would need to pay for their drugs, or purchasing more drugs from other countries.

None of these proposals guarantees a resolution for the increasing drug prices, but in the meantime there are processes of trial and error that are being undertaken to increase the likelihood of patients gaining access to the maintenance medications. Pharmacists and other healthcare professionals can play an important role in educating patients about effective medication options, prescription assistance programs and other cost-saving opportunities they can take advantage of as this issue continues to exist.

Many Americans depend on a wide variety of medications to help achieve some level of a quality of life. In some cases, not having these medications can lead to significant impairment and further debilitation.

A call to action that provides more reasonable and affordable drug-pricing practices for life-sustaining medications is in order.