Preventable hospital admissions related to medication (HARM): cost analysis of the HARM study.
Adverse drug events (ADE) in the outpatient setting can result in hospital admission and are largely preventable. This study used data from the earlier Hospital Admissions Related to Medication (HARM) study to estimate the cost (medical cost to the health system and loss of patient productivity) of each ADE-related hospital admission. The expense of each ADE can be significant, suggesting programs to reduce ADE may be cost-neutral or cost-saving.