title: A national evaluation of antibiotic expenditures by healthcare setting in the United States, 2009.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Promoting appropriate antibiotic use has the potential to decrease healthcare costs by reducing unnecessary prescriptions and the incidence of resistant infections. However, little is known about where antibiotic costs are incurred in the US healthcare system. We evaluated antibiotic expenditures by healthcare setting and antibiotic class in the USA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systemic antibiotic expenditures in 2009 were extracted from the IMS Health(©) National Sales Perspectives database. These data represent a statistically valid projection of all medication purchases in the USA from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antibiotic expenditures totalled $10.7 billion. The majority (61.5%) of expenditures were associated with the outpatient setting, especially from community pharmacies. Inpatient and long-term care settings accounted for 33.6% and 4.9% of expenditures, respectively. The class of antibiotics that accounted for the most antibiotic expenditure overall was the quinolones, followed by the penicillins.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Over $10.7 billion was spent in 2009 on antibiotic therapy in the USA. Differences were observed in antibiotic expenditures by healthcare setting, with the majority in the outpatient setting, 87% of which was in community pharmacies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA. ksuda@uthsc.edu
authors.forename: Katie J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Suda
authors.forename: Lauri A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hicks
authors.forename: Rebecca M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hunkler
authors.forename: Larry H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Danziger
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents