 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jalpa A Doshi, MS1, Becky A Briesacher, PhD2, Bruce Stuart, PhD2, Ilene H Zuckerman, PharmD3, and Mikhail Menis, PharmD3. (1) Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 506 W. Fayette Street, Rm. 113, Baltimore, MD 21201, 410-706-2747, jdosh001@umaryland.edu, (2) The Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 506 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, (3) Pharmacy Practice and Science Department, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, 100 N. Greene St., 5th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201
The primary objective of our study is to compare drug utilization for Medicare beneficiaries in nursing facilities (NF), assisted living and related facilities (ALF), and mental health facilities (MHF). This paper presents preliminary findings from analyses of a newly available national dataset on drug administrations for long-term care facility residents in 1998. We merged this dataset with the 1998 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Cost and Use files for institutionalized beneficiaries. Of 1260 (weighted N=2.6 million) institutionalized beneficiaries we identified those residing only in NF (n=877), ALF (n=267) and MHF (n=44) in any period during the year. Total drug mentions for these groups were 92,023 in NF, 25,032 in ALF and 4,866 in MHF. We found that the mean drug use per month in NF beneficiaries was much higher than for those in other facilities (11.2 in NF, 9.7 in ALF and 7.9 in MHF). On comparing frequency of drug use by therapeutic class, we found NF and ALF to be quite similar while drug use for MHF was very different. Twenty-seven percent of all drug mentions in the MHF were for CNS agents such as antipsychotics, sedatives/hypnotics and antidepressants, while about 11% in both the NF and ALF were for these drugs. Nearly half of the top 20 drugs frequently used in all three facilities were over-the-counter medications such as laxatives, antacids, and multivitamins. Further analyses will determine influence of demographic characteristics, health status and conditions, and source and duration of drug coverage on drug use across the facilities.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant in this session will be able to
Keywords: Drug Use, Long-Term Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.