Drug shortages costly to hospitals and patients

Hospitals experience drug shortages on a daily basis, which often lead to delayed patient treatment and increased drug costs, according to a new report released yesterday by the American Hospital Association (AHA).

The AHA’s Survey on Drug Shortages collected responses from 820 chief executive officers of community hospitals. Nearly 100 percent (99.5 percent) of those hospitals reported a shortage of one or more drugs in the first half of this year. Almost half of those hospitals reported shortages of 21 or more drugs and 47 percent reported drug shortages on a daily basis.

[See also: Drug shortage in U.S. getting worse, can other countries help?]

Drug shortages are highest for surgery/anesthesia treatment (95 percent), followed by emergency care (91 percent) and cardiovascular treatment (90 percent).

Delayed treatment as a result of drug shortages was reported by 83 percent of hospitals, with 69 percent saying that patients received a less effective drug in replacement. Sixty-three percent did not receive the recommended treatment.

Ninety-two percent of hospital executives said that their drug costs have increased because drug shortages caused them to have to purchase more expensive drugs from other sources.

[See also: Hospitals save $3.5M by attacking drug shortage problems.]

Hospital executives said they rarely or never receive advance notice of drug shortages and 85 percent of them have purchased excess inventory in case of shortages.

On Monday, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) released a report conducted with the University of Michigan Health System that assessed the impact of drug shortages. Based on responses from 353 directors of pharmacy at hospitals of varying size, the study found that labor costs associated with managing drug shortages is an estimated $216 million nationally and that staff must be reallocated from patient care duties to management of drug shortages.

“Drug shortages are a national health crisis,” said ASHP executive vice president and CEO, Henri R. Manasse, Jr., PhD, in a statement. “. . . The impact on our healthcare system is enormous. It’s urgent that stakeholders work together to find solutions to this serious public health threat.”