The rising cost of medicines is leaving some hospitals feeling under the weather.
A new survey finds that many hospitals are spending more on prescription drugs each year. Between 2015 and 2017, total spending at U.S. community hospitals for each admitted patient climbed 18.5 percent, from $468 to $555, resulting in $1.8 million in added spending for the average hospital.
More specifically, spending on outpatient drugs rose nearly 29 percent, to $522, per admitted patient, while spending on inpatient medicines increased by almost 10 percent, to $756 for each admission. In each case, the higher spending eclipsed the 6.4 percent rate of medical inflation.
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The times that I was in hospital, I brought my own medications for my daily use; they had to be at the nurses station; and when I had to use the medications of my daily protocol, the nurses had access to my prescriptions for myself.
The other medications that were used for me, and from the hospital pharmacy, were the medications that were in my IV bags. I wasn’t charged for any medications other than what went into the IV bags.