title: Medical cost offsets from prescription drug utilization among Medicare beneficiaries.
abstract: This brief commentary extends earlier work on the value of adherence to derive medical cost offset estimates from prescription drug utilization. Among seniors with chronic vascular disease, 1% increases in condition-specific medication use were associated with significant (P  less than  0.001) reductions in gross nonpharmacy medical costs in the amounts of 0.63% for dyslipidemia, 0.77% for congestive heart failure, 0.83% for diabetes, and 1.17% for hypertension.
authors.affiliation: M. Christopher Roebuck, PhD, MBA, 11350 McCormick Rd., Executive Plaza II, Ste. 705, Hunt Valley, MD 21031, USA. mcr@rxeconomics.com.
authors.forename: M Christopher
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Roebuck
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016527:Drug Costs; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics*; D055118:Medication Adherence; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs