Abstract

MORENO-RAMIREZ, David; FERRANDIZ, Lara; RAMIREZ-SOTO, Gabriel  and  MUNOYERRO, Mª Dolores. Quantitative analysis of drug expenditures variability in dermatology units. Farm Hosp. [online]. 2013, vol.37, n.5, pp.366-371. ISSN 2171-8695.  https://dx.doi.org/10.7399/FH.2013.37.5.636.

Background: Variability in adjusted drug expenditures among clinical departments raises the possibility of difficult access to certain therapies at the time that avoidable expenditures may also exist. Nevertheless, drug expenditures are not usually applied to clinical practice variability analysis. Aims: To identify and quantify variability in drug expenditures in comparable dermatology department of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud. Methods: Comparative economic analysis regarding the drug expenditures adjusted to population and health care production in 18 dermatology departments of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud. The 2012 cost and production data (homogeneous production units -HPU-)were provided by Inforcoan, the cost accounting information system of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud. Results: The observed drug expenditure ratio ranged from 0.97€/inh to 8.90€/inh and from 208.45€/HPU to 1,471.95€/ HPU. The Pearson correlation between drug expenditure and population was 0.25 and 0.35 for the correlation between expenditure and homogeneous production (p=0.32 and p=0,15, respectively), both Pearson coefficients confirming the lack of correlation and arelevant degree of variability in drug expenditures. Conclusion: The quantitative analysis of variability performed through Pearson correlation has confirmed the existence of drug expenditure variability among comparable dermatology departments.

Keywords : Health expenditures; Clinical practice variation; Cost-accounting; Dermatology.

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