IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics: Global savings potential of $500 billion
10.10.2012 17:16
According to a new report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, around $500 billion could be saved in global healthcare costs if healthcare resources were used correctly, i.e. used and applied in a targeted manner. The IMS Institute identifies six factors that help optimize the use of medicines and thereby enable costs to be reduced.
Today, stakeholders relevant to health care are forced to keep costs under control almost everywhere. The focus is also on the pharmaceutical sector. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), over half of medicines are not handled correctly because they are either prescribed and dispensed inadequately or because patients do not use them appropriately. In addition, there are patients who do not receive the correct medication within a reasonable period of time or at all.
Against this background, the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics examined the use and use of medicines worldwide and came to the conclusion that global healthcare costs could be reduced by 500 billion euros or 8% if inefficiencies were avoided. In detail, the institute identifies six factors that contribute to improved care: greater patient adherence to therapy, timely intake/application of medication, more targeted antibiotic therapy, the avoidance of medication errors, the use of cheaper generics where available and better coordinated medication management in patients who require multiple medications.
The IMS Institute sees the greatest possible savings in the lack of adherence to therapy by patients who either do not take their medication according to the doctor's instructions, forget to take it, or stop taking it, etc.
The IMS Institute recommends considering five factors to achieve improvements in the use and application of medicines. This includes, among other things, involving pharmacists more closely in medication management and focusing more attention on older patients in medical tests. Other sales points include the implementation of mandatory reports on the use of antibiotics, the promotion of error reporting in a culture without “shaming” and the support of disease management programs for common but non-communicable diseases, which in turn often represent risk factors for other diseases. such as addiction problems.
The IMS Institute sees its analyzes as an impulse in the discussion about cost containment in health care spending. The recommendations can be implemented concretely and their success can be measured and can help decision-makers in politics, health insurance companies, doctors, pharmacists, nursing staff and, last but not least, patients to find new ways to achieve optimized drug therapy.
The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics presented the key results of the study “Advancing the Responsible Use of Medicines: Applying Levers for Change” as part of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Centennial Congress at a summit of health ministers convened by the Dutch Ministry of Health in the first week of October of the year .
Link to report: http://www.responsibleuseofmedicines.org/research-findings/