National trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2014

Abstract

Growth in U.S. prescription drug expenditures is expected to rebound in 2014, with a projected 3-5% increase in total drug expenditures across all settings this year, including a 5-7% increase in clinic spending and a 1-3% increase in hospital spending. Health-system pharmacy leaders should carefully examine local drug-utilization patterns to determine their respective organization's anticipated spending in 2014.

Cost of Antimicrobial Therapy Across US Children’s Hospitals

“…prior studies of all acute care hospitals (not pediatric specific), which revealed that antimicrobials are in the top 3 pharmacy expenditures. 1,2,11 Second, only a few drugs accounted for a third of total antimicrobial costs; however, these differed from those identified in adult-dominated populations (where daptomycin contributed most to antimicrobial expenditures). 1 Therefore, targets for antimicrobial stewardship (when similar therapeutic choices exist) can differ by patient population.…”

“…1,2 Both the volume and choice of antimicrobials used, however, vary substantially across centers. 3,4 Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are patient safety and quality improvement initiatives shown to reduce antimicrobial overuse while improving clinical outcomes.…”

“…Recent studies have estimated antimicrobial expenditures in hospitalized patients but have not compared antimicrobial spending across hospitals. 1,8 Identifying the impact of different antimicrobial use patterns across children's hospitals could yield potential targets for pediatric ASPs.…”

National trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2015

“…The NSP database has been described in detail in previous versions of this forecast. 2 All drug dosage forms were included in the analysis (except where noted), and drug class groupings were based on IMS Health's proprietary Uniform System of Classification. 5 For all drug expenditure data from the NSP, we reported total dollars spent as well as growth-the latter being the percentage change (increase or decrease) in expenditures from one period to the next.…”

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products alter the holobiome and development of a medically important mosquito

“…Use of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products (PPCPs) has been increasing over the past 30 years, doubling or tripling in the past 12 years (National Center for Health Statistics, 2014;Schumock et al, 2014). Common PPCPs include, but are not limited to acetaminophen, mental stimulants, and treatments for heartburn, allergies, and bacterial infections.…”