Evaluation of Cost Analysis of Prescriptions in the Acute Medical Care Unit of a Teaching Hospital in Chennai

Pharmacoeconomic evaluations provide a basis for resource allocation and utilization and are increasingly becoming important for health policy decision-making. The acute medical care unit (AMC) represents an important platform for conducting pharmacoeconomic studies as the patients are seriously ill and often suffering from chronic critical illnesses. Periodic evaluation of prescribing costs in AMCs is essential for enabling optimization of health care system, proper use of resources and for making prescription policies.

Aim: To evaluate the cost analysis of prescriptions in the acute medical care unit of a teaching hospital in Chennai.

Materials and Methods: A prospective observational cross sectional study was conducted for 5 months to evaluate the prescribing cost in the AMC of ESIC Hospital. After obtaining a verbal informed consent from the patients, data was collected in a proforma designed for the study. The prescriptions of the patients were analyzed from the patient medical records, for detailed information of the drugs, the dosage schedule (form, route, and frequency) and the duration of treatment from the time of admission till discharge or shifting from the AMC. The cost of prescription of each patient during their entire stay in the AMC was calculated & the data was analysed statistically.

Results: The prescription data of 130 patients was analysed. The average number of drugs prescribed per patient was 11.8 drugs. The average cost per prescription was INR 5127. The average prescribing cost was high for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) followed by the cardiovascular (CVS) and the respiratory system (RS). The average duration of parenteral therapy was 5.63 days at an average cost of INR 5001 per patient. The average expense per patient was INR 126 with an average duration of 5.42 days for oral therapy in AMC.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the prescribing cost in AMC of our hospital is optimal as most of the drug classes were prescribed for appropriate indication and all drugs were prescribed by their generic names.