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Adverse drug event cost calculator.

An adverse drug event is harm caused by a medicine. Many of them can be prevented. Enter the number of people you care for and see a rough yearly cost of preventable events, and what cutting them would save.

Who are you estimating for?
Prefilled with $1,983, the average added cost of a preventable adverse drug event among older Medicare enrollees treated outside the hospital[4]. The study was published in 2005 and the figure is not adjusted for inflation[5].
25%
This is your own assumption, not a published figure. Slide it to see how savings change.
Your estimate
Preventable events per year
0
Estimated yearly cost
$0
Events per year times cost per event
Estimated yearly savings
$0

This is an estimate, not a prediction. It uses averages from published studies, which may not match your residents, patients or costs. Change any number to match what you know. Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.

Where the numbers come from

How the prefilled figures were built.

Nursing home residents

A study of two large long-term care facilities found 9.8 adverse drug events per 100 resident-months. Of those, 4.1 per 100 resident-months were judged preventable[1], about 42 percent[2]. The calculator turns the preventable rate into a yearly figure: 4.1 times 12 months is 49.2 preventable events per 100 residents per year.

Older adults at home

A study of older adults treated outside the hospital found 50.1 adverse drug events per 1,000 person-years, and 27.6 percent of them were judged preventable[3]. That works out to about 13.8 preventable events per 1,000 people per year, or 1.38 per 100 people per year.

Cost per event

Researchers compared the health care costs of older Medicare enrollees who had a preventable adverse drug event with similar people who did not. The average difference was $1,983[4]. That figure comes from people living in the community, so for nursing homes treat it as a starting point and enter your own cost if you have a better one.

See where medication risk shows up first.

Veridence watches medication passes and the clinical record every day for nursing facilities. RXLens reviews every claim, every day, for pharmacies. Talk with the team that fits you.

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Sources

Published figures used on this page.

  1. Gurwitz JH, Field TS. The incidence and preventability of adverse drug events in two large academic long-term care facilities. Presentation slides, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) webinar, Medication Management Using Health IT for the Care of Elderly Patients, 2011. healthit.ahrq.gov
  2. AHRQ Research Activities, July 2005, summary of Gurwitz JH, et al. Am J Med 2005;118(3):251-258. ahrq.gov
  3. Gurwitz JH, et al. Incidence and preventability of adverse drug events among older persons in the ambulatory setting. JAMA 2003;289(9):1107-1116. dash.harvard.edu
  4. Field T. Remarks on the costs of preventable adverse drug events among older adults in ambulatory care. Webinar transcript, AHRQ, Medication Management Using Health IT for the Care of Elderly Patients, 2011. healthit.ahrq.gov
  5. Field T, Gilman BH, Subramanian S, et al. The costs associated with adverse drug events among older adults in the ambulatory setting. Med Care 2005;43(12):1171-1176. Summary at AHRQ Patient Safety Network. psnet.ahrq.gov

For information only. Not medical, financial or clinical advice.