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Cost-Containment Strategy in Nursing It is a common knowledge that due to shift to newer, and thus, more expensive drugs, recent increases in drug utilization, and significant expansions in prescription drug coverage the double-digit growth in pharmaceutical expenditures are experienced by Medicaid programs. As far as Medicaid is arguably the largest public purchaser of health care services in the U. S. , the problem of pharmaceutical expenditures growth becomes the issue of the day. Therefore, the importance of cost-containment strategy cannot be underestimated, as the necessity to enhance (or, at least maintain) the quality of care can be lost in drive for cost containment. The present cost containment strategies seem to be not very effective, although they do have certain positive outcomes.
For example, 16 states have preferred drug lists, while another twelve have achieved the authority or announced the plan to implement Preferred Drug List initiatives. Another 13 states have relatively hard limits on the number of prescriptions the person is allowed to fill on a monthly or annual basis. It should be taken into consideration that clinical pharmacy management programs are more politically palatable, because they are able to provide the state a possibility to save money. At the same time, they deny no access to services and limit no eligibility. The clinical pharmacy management programs should focus on affecting prescription drug utilization in order to provide the highest possible quality of health care for the patients and reduce Medicaid program costs (such as prescription drug costs, etc). Nurse-patient case management by means of effectively chosen education programs will be able to eliminate inappropriate drugs from patient regimens, and decrease the risk of harmful drug interactions.
At the same time, clinical pharmacy management programs will be able to impact the mix of drugs as they will promote best health care practice guidelines and monitoring patients with a history of taking expensive drugs. In a long run, this may lead to considerable cost savings. Among other things involved, clinical pharmacy management programs may establish systems that will monitor and intervene in medical treatment of patients taking prescription drugs (certainly, in case necessary). This process of monitoring may be either an ongoing activity (that will affect the patients over the long-term course of time that may last for months or years) or episodic one. However, in all cases clinical pharmacy management programs will be aimed to prevent medical complications, manage the progression of diseases and control increasing medical costs. The activities may vary in accordance with the degree of intervention into the patients treatment regimens, as the types of intervention are influenced by the clinical and cost goals expected to be met through the clinical pharmacy management program.
It is possible to take an active part in operational clinical pharmacy management initiatives. For example, being a nurse case manager, the person is able to coordinate the given aspect of patient care (both medical and social), including drug regimen reviews with the prescribing physician. In addition, the person can monitor patient medication compliance in order to undertake appropriate measures, in case necessary. Through education, provider detailing, case management, and other strategies, the clinical pharmacy management programs will be able to eliminate inappropriate drugs, reduce the risk of harmful drug interaction and boost compliance. These strategies will be conductive to control pharmaceutical costs, thus providing the opportunity to define what may be chosen as the most effective and appropriate in the given environment.
It should be also noted that these strategies are quite easy to implement. Finally, additional benefit management activities will be conductive to enhance the quality of care and to reduce medical costs, thus leading to considerable cost savings.
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Research essay sample on Cost Containment Strategy In Nursing
