American health & drug benefits
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Am Health Drug Benefits · Nov 2012
Hematologic complications, healthcare utilization, and costs in commercially insured patients with myelodysplastic syndrome receiving supportive care.
Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is rare in people aged <50 years. Most patients with this disorder experience progressive worsening of blood cytopenias, with an increasing need for transfusion. The more advanced and severe the disorder, the greater the risk that it will progress to acute myeloid leukemia. Therapy is typically based on the patient's risk category, age, and performance status. Supportive care alone is a major option for lower-risk, older patients with MDS or those with comorbidities. The only potentially curative treatment option is hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, which is typically used to treat high-risk, younger patients. ⋯ MDS is associated with frequent and prolonged hospitalizations, frequent outpatient visits, and high costs in younger and in older patients who are receiving supportive care. Although this study shows that younger patients aged <50 years do not have significantly higher costs overall, a small proportion may have a higher healthcare utilization and cost-related burden of MDS than patients aged ≥50 years.
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Am Health Drug Benefits · Nov 2012
National burden of preventable adverse drug events associated with inpatient injectable medications: healthcare and medical professional liability costs.
Harmful medication errors, or preventable adverse drug events (ADEs), are a prominent quality and cost issue in healthcare. Injectable medications are important therapeutic agents, but they are associated with a greater potential for serious harm than oral medications. The national burden of preventable ADEs associated with inpatient injectable medications and the associated medical professional liability (MPL) costs have not been previously described in the literature. ⋯ The incremental healthcare and MPL costs of preventable ADEs resulting from inpatient injectable medications are substantial. The data in this study strongly support the clinical and business cases of investing in efforts to prevent errors related to injectable medications.