Relative costs of anesthesiologist prepared, hospital pharmacy prepared and outsourced anesthesia drugs.
BACKGROUND
Anesthesia drugs can be prepared by anesthesia providers, hospital pharmacies or outsourcing facilities. The decision whether to outsource all or some anesthesia drugs is challenging since the costs associated with different anesthesia drug preparation methods remain poorly described.


METHODS
The costs associated with preparation of 8 commonly used anesthesia drugs were analyzed using a budget impact analysis for 4 different syringe preparation strategies: (1) all drugs prepared by anesthesiologist, (2) drugs prepared by anesthesiologist and hospital pharmacy, (3) drugs prepared by anesthesiologist and outsourcing facility, and (4) all drugs prepared by outsourcing facility.


RESULTS
A strategy combining anesthesiologist and hospital pharmacy prepared drugs was associated with the lowest estimated annual cost in the base-case budget impact analysis with an annual cost of $225 592, which was lower than other strategies by a margin of greater than $86 000.


CONCLUSIONS
A combination of anesthesiologist and hospital pharmacy prepared drugs resulted in the lowest annual cost in the budget impact analysis. However, the cost of drugs prepared by an outsourcing facility maybe lower if the capital investment needed for the establishment and maintenance of the US Pharmacopeial Convention Chapter <797> compliant facility is included in the budget impact analysis.
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: sjelacic@uw.edu.
Srdjan
S
Jelacic
Department of Pharmacy, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Karen
K
Craddick
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Bala G
BG
Nair
University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Seattle, WA, USA.
Mark
M
Bounthavong
University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Seattle, WA, USA.
Kai
K
Yeung
Department of Pharmacy, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Dolly
D
Kusulos
Department of Pharmacy, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Jennifer A
JA
Knutson
Department of Pharmacy, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Shabir
S
Somani
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Andrew
A
Bowdle
D000758:Anesthesia / Q000191:economics*; D000072080:Anesthesiologists; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000191:economics*; D004219:District of Columbia; D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009467:Neuromuscular Depolarizing Agents / Q000191:economics; D020416:Outsourced Services / Q000191:economics*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics*; D013594:Syringes; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000191:economics
D000777:Anesthetics; D009467:Neuromuscular Depolarizing Agents; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents
Anesthesia drug cost; Outsourcing; Pre-filled syringes