Prescription Drug Shortage Impacting Patients, Costs

Despite the fact that in the next several months, some generic medicine prices are expected to plummet sine many brand manufacturers are losing their patents, the AP report found some of the more important, life-saving medications are rising in costs around the country due to shortages.

This problem mainly involves widely-used, generic injected drugs that are ordinarily cheap. They include:

  • Sodium phosphate injection electrolyte
  • Magnesium sulfate injection electrolyte
  • Levofloxacin injection antibiotic
  • Foscarnet injection antiviral drug
  • Paclitaxel injection chemotherapy
  • Doxil injection chemotherapy
  • Prochlorperazine injection for nausea
  • Ondansetron injection for nausea

These shortages are forcing hospitals to purchase drugs from secondary suppliers, something that is affecting costs and patient health.

Prescription Drug Shortages Blamed for Deaths, Price Increases

The report revealed the shortage of these important drugsand the marked up pricesis having a huge impact on hospitals and patients.

Hospitals are facing higher costs for medications and these extra expenses could eventually trickle down to health insurers and patients.

An even worse side effect of the shortage is that patients are losing their lives. Some hospitals are not able to keep up with the demand. According to AP, this has resulted in at least 15 patient deaths.

In all cases, either the right drug wasntd available or dosing errors resulted in preventable deaths.

Surgeries and cancer treatments have also been delayed, leaving patients in unnecessary pain for extended periods of time. With no resolution in sight, many patients have been forced to remain in hospitals longer as their complications worsen.

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