News / Profession

Annual Cost of Prescription Drug Use in the United States

Dynamic Chiropractic 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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