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Annual Cost of Prescription Drug Use in the United States

Editorial Staff

The use of prescription drugs in the United States exacts an onerous and largely underappreciated cost of drug-related morbidity and mortality. These adverse events translate into a staggering expenditure of over $76 BILLION EACH YEAR:

Physician Visits - $7,459,744,000 (9.7%)

Additional Prescriptions - $1,933,121,000 (2.5%)

Emergency Room Visits - $5,320,723,000 (7%)

Hospital Admissions - $47,445,477,000 (62%)

Long-Term Care Admissions - $14,398,644,000 (18.8%)

With a price tag of $76 billion annually on prescription drug-related morbidity and mortality, it's hardly surprising that the U.S. leads the world in "health" care costs.

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SOURCE: Johnson JA, Bootman JL. Drug-related morbidity and mortality. Arch Intern Med. 1995;155:1949-1956.

September 1996
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