Advances in pharmaceutical science and technology are among the most important achievements of modern healthcare. Large numbers of patients have improved quality of life, and hundreds of thousands of patients with previously fatal diseases now experience transient acute illnesses or live with chronic conditions due to modern drug treatments. At the same time, there is a growing need to address the escalation in costs and related impact on availability, to improve compliance, and to achieve better outcomes for patients with specific diseases. More than 40 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug, and 16 percent take at least three. Nearly 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries report taking prescription medicines, and nearly half of those individuals use five or more different medications.1 Twenty-two percent of hospitalizations have been attributed to patient non-adherence.2 In 2000, outpatient prescription medicine spending totaled $102 billion,3 comprising about one-tenth of total U.S. healthcare spending and representing the fastest growing type of medical expenditure.4 A national framework, best practices and a set of voluntary consensus standards to evaluate and report the broad view of therapeutic drug management would fill a current gap in understanding and addressing the broad impact therapeutic drug management has on overall health and healthcare.
The NQF proposes to work with the full range of stakeholders to identify a framework, best practices and performance measures that could be used across the spectrum of healthcare settings and providers to provide meaningful information to consumers, purchasers, providers, healthcare professionals, quality improvement organizations, and researchers about therapeutic drug management.
Primary support for this project is provided by Pfizer, with additional support from the Department of Veterans Affairs and United Healthcare.
For further information, contact Kristyne McGuinn or, at 202-783-1300 or kmcguinn@qualityforum.org
1 Bedell SE, Jabbour S., Golbert R, et al. Discrepancies in the use of medications. Arch Int Med: 2000; 160(14):2129 – 2134.
2 Stagnitti MN. Trends in Outpatient Prescription Drug Utilization and Expenditures: 1997 – 2000 – Statistical Brief #1. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; July 2003.
3 World Health Organization (WHO). Adherence to Long-Term Therapies: Policy for Action (Meeting Report). Geneva: WHO; 2001.
4 Haynes RB, Montague P, Oliver T, et al. Interventions for Helping Patients Follow Prescriptions for Medications. The Cochrane Library (Oxford); 2001.