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Medication Facts |
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), “Prescription medication use is widespread, complex, and increasingly risky. Clinicians have access to an armamentarium of more than 10,000 prescription medications, and nearly one-third of adults in the United States take 5 or more medications” (1).
“Advances in clinical therapeutics have undoubtedly resulted in major improvements in health for patients with many diseases, but these benefits have also been accompanied by increased risk” (1) “An adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as harm experienced by a patient as a result of exposure to a medication, and ADEs account for nearly 700,000 emergency department visits and 100,000 hospitalizations each year” (1). Furthermore, the Institute of Medicine has identified Medication-related problems as a major concern within the healthcare system. This is based on findings that “more than 1.5 million preventable medication related adverse events occur each year in the United States, accounting for an excess of $177 billion in terms of medication-related morbidity and mortality” (2)(3) Ernst and Grizzle reported that of the amount, “hospital admissions accounted for $121.5 billion (69%) per year, and Long Term Care admissions represented $32.8 billion (18%). Physician visits accounted for another $13.8 billion (8%), whereas Emergency Department visits and additional treatment cost more than $5.8 billion (3%) and $3.5 billion (2%), respectively” (2) In another study, Bootman and Johnson reported that for every for every dollar spent on medications, another dollar is spent due to drug related problems (4). References:
1. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/23/medication-errors 2. Ernst FR, Grizzle AJ. Drug-related morbidity and mortality: updating the cost-of-illness model. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2001;41:192-9. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.469.2801&rep=rep1&type=pdf 3. Institute of Medicine. Report Brief: Preventing Medication Errors. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine; July 2006. http://www.iom.edu/ Object.File/Master/35/943/medication%20errors%20new.pdf. Accessed September 1, 2007 4. Bootman JL, Johnson JA. Drug-related morbidity and mortality. A cost-of-illness model. Arch Intern Med. 1995;155:1949-56 http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/621074 |
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