Financial management of health system pharmacy practice.

The financial management of pharmacies and health systems is a combination of the traditional management of personnel and drug and supply costs with the management of the total costs of care. It includes determining the consequences of less than optimal drug therapy, improving drug therapy, and reengineering pharmacy departments and services across all patient care settings to deliver optimal pharmacotherapy. Prevention and reduction of adverse drug events, disease state management, and other methods to improve quality of care are of major importance. Future articles in this series on the financial management of pharmacy practice in health care systems will provide examples of applications of financial management in acute care, ambulatory care, long term care, and across sites of care. They also will include the justification of the development of new types of patient care services.