July 25, 2001

DRUG-RELATED MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY



A Cost -of- Illness Model for 1992..





Background: Preventable drug-related morbidity and mortality

 represent a serious medical problem that urgently requires

 expert attention. The costs to society of the misuse of 

prescription medication, in terms of morbidity, mortality,

 and treatment, can be immense. To date, research has primarily

 documented increased rates of hospitalization secondary to 

medication noncompliance and /or adverse drug effects.

Objectives: To develop a conceptual model of drug-related

 morbidity and mortality, and to estimate the associated 

costs in the ambulatory setting in the United States.

Methods: A probability pathway model was developed to 

estimate the cost of drug-related morbidity and mortality

 in the United States. Pharmacist practitioners were 

surveyed to determine conditional probabilities of 

therapeutic outcomes owing to drug therapy. Health care 

utilization and associated costs owing to negative 

therapeutic outcomes were estimated. Results:  

Drug-related morbidity and mortality was estimated to 

cost $76.6 billion in the ambulatory setting in the 

United States. The largest component of this total cost

was associated with dug-related hospitalization. When 

assumptions of the model were varied, the estimated

 cost ranged from a conservative estimate of $30.1 

to 136.8 billion in a worst-case scenario. Conclusions: 

 The cost of drug-related morbidity and mortality in 

the ambulatory setting in the United States is considerable 

and should be considered in health policies and services

should be developed to reduce and prevent drug-related

morbidity and mortality.



Table 3. Heath care utilization and Cost for Drug-Related Morbidity 
and 

Mortality in the United States.... (This is BILLIONS of dollars FOLKS! 
& 

198 THOUSAND DEATHS is not a small number.)



Medical Physician visits--115,654,949  At a cost of  $ 
7,459,744,000

Additional prescriptions--76,347,604  At a cost of  $ 
1,933,121,000

Emergency department--17,053,602  At a cost of  $ 5,320,723,000

Hospital admissions--8,761,861  At a cost of  $47,445,477,000

LTC admissions--3,149,675  At a cost of  $14,398,644,000



DEATHS                             198,815      ..............





Total costs in 1992                      $76,557,711,000





  SOURCE ----> (Arch Intern Med. 1995;155:pp1949-56)



Now if you add the amount of total mistakes you should come up

with 213 million separate incidence of medical model screw ups

and there is only 275 million people in the united states.