Savings provided by periodic evaluation of medication use in an internal medicine department

:Objective: to assess cost savings provided by periodic critical review of medications used to treat internal medicine department patients. Site: 46-b ed internal medicine department in a teaching hospital. Methods: the physic ians working in the department met at regular intervals to discuss medicati on use. Cost-savings due to medication discontinuation as a result of meeti ng decisions were computed. Pharmacy accounting books were compared during the study period and a two-month control period. Results. At least one drug was discontinued as a result of the meetings in 33.4% of 229 patients admi tted during a two-month period. The number of discontinued medications incr eased with the mean number of treatments per patient (no discontinuations, 5.21 treatments/patient; 1: 7.82/patient; 2: 7.8/patient; and 3: 11/patient ). Medication discontinuations translated into savings of 1.41 French Franc s (FFs) per hospital day. Fifty-four per cent of cost savings were ascribab le to discontinuation of antibiotics (8% of all discontinued medications). Pharmacy book data showed a 1.81 FF decrease (-4.7%) in the cost of drugs p er hospital day (-4.7%) and a 61 FF decrease (-12%) per admission, as compa red to the two-month period preceding the study.