Abstract

SICRAS, Antoni; PELAEZ, Jordi  and  MARTI, Joan. The effect of the provider company of reference on drug prescriptions in nursing homes. Gac Sanit [online]. 2004, vol.18, n.3, pp.220-224. ISSN 0213-9111.

Objective: To identify the effect of the provider company (PC) of reference on drug prescriptions in nursing homes. Methods: We performed a descriptive study of all ambulatory prescriptions invoiced by the Catalan Health Service from 106 nursing homes in a health region in 2001. The PCs were grouped into private (n = 23; 1,158 residents) and public (n = 83; 3,163 residents). A system of evaluating quantitative, qualitative and relative use indicators was established according to therapeutic group or active principles. Results: Expenditure in the nursing homes was € 7.7 million, representing 6.3% of that generated by the PCs. The results obtained show differences in expenditure per resident, which amounted to € 1,601.56 ± 317.20 in the private sector and € 1,843.49 ± 516.56 in the public sector (p = 0.000). The percentage spent on drugs of high intrinsic value was 89.0 and 82.9% (p = 0.043), respectively. Conclusions: Because of the study's limitations, the results should be generalized with caution. The volume of prescriptions in nursing homes was high. Moderate cost containment and a relative improvement in the quality of prescriptions in private PCs were observed.

Keywords : Nursing homes; Quality indicators; Drugs utilization.

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