Reducing drug therapy-induced hospitalization: impact of drug utilization review.

Abstract

Although drug expenditures in Medicaid programs rarely exceed 7 percent of total program expenditures, the outcomes of inappropriate, excessive or therapeutically incompatible drug use do have a significant impact on the costs associated with providing remedial hospital, physician, nursing home and pharmacy services. It has been well documented that adverse drug effects can require hospitalization or prolongation of hospitalizations. These remedial a r e requirements represent significant expenditures of funds and represent increasing financial liabilities for third-party payers. The increased liability for remedial care costs takes on an added significance by virtue of the large number of elderly in the Medicaid program. Several studies have demonstrated that the elderly are a particularly high risk population for