The economic impact of wasted prescription medication in an outpatient population of older adults.

摘要: The causes and costs of outpatient medication waste are not known. We report the results a cross-sectional pilot survey in convenience sample 73 New Hampshire retirement community residents aged 65 years or older. used questionnaires in-home pill counts to determine annual occurrence waste, defined as no intention take leftover medicines prescribed within past year. Mean individual cost wasted was $30.47 (range = $0-$131.56). Waste represented 2.3% total costs. main for included: resolution condition which (37.4%), patient-perceived ineffectiveness (22.6%), prescription change by physician (15.8%), adverse effects (14.4%). Individual were modest, but if $30 per person represents low estimate average US national adults older than would top $1 billion