Impact of managed care in pharmacy.
Implementation of managed care results in decreased reimbursement, decreased use of specialty services, and consolidation of providers. With these changes, pharmacy services have been affected in all settings. However, pharmacists do have opportunities to implement change in this new health care environment. Employee compensation usually represents over half of hospital expenses and is therefore often the target of efforts to decrease costs. For pharmacy, this translates to increased automation and expanded technician responsibilities. In response to these changes, pharmacists have broadened their scope of responsibility to improve drug use, with the goal of decreasing drug-related hospitalizations and providing quality care at a reasonable cost.
Scott
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Department of Pharmacy, United Hospital, St. Paul, Minnesota 55102, USA.
D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000639:trends*; D010604:Pharmacy / Q000639:trends*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital