DIRECT COST OF DRUG AND PRESCRIBING PATTERN IN THE OUTPATIENT SERVICES OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN MALAYSIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2018.v11i7.22331Keywords:
Drug cost, Generic drugs prescribing rate, Dyslipidemia drugsAbstract
Objective: This study aims to impute the direct drug cost and to assess the prescribing pattern on patients getting dyslipidemia drugs at outpatients' Pharmacy Department in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC).
Methods: Patients receiving at least one dyslipidemia drug were randomly selected from UKMMC pharmacy electronic prescribing system from January 2012 to December 2012. The patients' gender, age, and ethnic, and all the drugs received by the patients during the visits were recorded. The brand name of the drugs and the cost was recorded for the calculation of generic drug prescription rate (GDPR) and direct drug cost.
Results: A total of 380 patients were randomly selected from the system. There were 829 prescriptions with the total amount of 5512 drugs prescribed. From the total of drugs, the number of generic drugs prescribed was 3967 (72%). The percentage of patients with GDPR of more than 75% for this study was 48% (n=183). The total drug cost for all 380 patients was RM240,244. The mean cost for each patient was RM637 (Range: RM1.20– RM27,972.30) and the median cost was RM233. The total formulary dyslipidemia drugs cost was RM11,003. The mean formulary dyslipidemia drugs cost for each patient was RM38 (Range: RM1.20–RM810), and the median cost was RM13.50. Predictors of high drug cost were GDPR of ≤75% and a number of drugs per prescription of >10.
Conclusion: This study could contribute toward short- and long-term strategies to reduce the drug cost expenditure of dyslipidemia drugs in the hospital.
Downloads
References
Ministry of Health Malaysia. Clinical Practice Guidelines Management of Dyslipidemia. 4th ed. Putrajaya: Ministry of Health Malaysia; 2011.
Ministry of Health Malaysia. National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015. Putrajaya: Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health; 2015.
Ministry of Health Malaysia. Malaysian National Medicines Policy. 2nd ed. Putrajaya: Ministry of Health Malaysia; 2012.
Al-Junid SM, Ezat WP, Surianti S. Prescribing patterns and drug cost among cardiovascular patients in hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Med J Malaysia 2007;62:59-65.
Copeland C. Prescription drugs: Issues of cost, coverage, and quality. EBRI Issue Brief 1999;208:1-21.
Lucena González MI, Ruiz Ruiz J, Andrade Bellido RJ, Hidalgo Sánchez R, González-Correa JA, GarcÃa Ruiz A, et al. The impact of hospitalization on drug prescription. Med Clin (Barc) 1995;104:211-5.
Litton LM, Sisk FA, Akins ME. Managing drug costs: The perception of managed care pharmacy directors. Am J Manag Care 2000;6:805-14.
Azmi MH, Akmal SA, Ahmed A, Izham IM, Chong, CP. Physicians’ views on generic medicines: A narrative review. J Generic Med 2010;7:30-9.
Nabil A, Azmi, MH. Pharmacits’ view on generic medicines: A review of the literature. J Generic Med 2008;5:209-18.
Mukesh K, Vicky D, Shruti M, Dinesh S, Neha M, Mangla L. Cardiovascular disease prevalence and drug utilization patterns at a tertiary care hospital in Northeastern India. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci 2016;8:116-9.
Mohammad AK, Krishna M, Vaibhav G, Kanhaya L, Dharmendra S, Pradeep D, et al. Atorvastatin VS rosuvastatin; fenofibrate as an add on: An exploratory study. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci 2014;6:493-8.
Thokala P, Duenasm A. Multiple criteria decision analysis for health technology assessment. Value Health 2012;15:1172-81.
Liberman JN, Roebuck MC. Prescription drug costs and the generic dispensing ratio. J Manag Care Pharm 2010;16:502-6.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
The publication is licensed under CC By and is open access. Copyright is with author and allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.
