Antibiotic usage: pharmacoeconomic impact in a changing healthcare system.

There is limited experience in the healthcare field in terms of the evaluation of treatment costs. All too often, healthcare providers focus on the financial end-points (such as drug acquisition costs) as opposed to clinical end-points. This approach fails to view products from a broader perspective and tends to ignore the impact of a drug in terms of better patient compliance, fewer office visits, reduced length of hospital stay, or avoidance of hospitalisation. This article will briefly discuss the techniques used in the US to improve the utilisation of antibiotics, and describe the move towards the use of outpatient (i.e. outpatient care attached to a hospital, or in an infusion or clinic setting) or home therapy.