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. 2013 Apr 24;2(2):256-64.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics2020256.

The Economic Impact of Starting, Stopping, and Restarting an Antibiotic Stewardship Program: A 14-Year Experience

Mary A Ullman  1   2 , Garry L Parlier  1 , James Bryan Warren  1 , Noe Mateo  1 , Craig Harvey  1 , Christopher J Sullivan  3 , Robert Bergsbaken  1 , Isaac F Mitropoulos  1   2 , John A Bosso  4   5 , John C Rotschafer  6   7
Affiliations

The Economic Impact of Starting, Stopping, and Restarting an Antibiotic Stewardship Program: A 14-Year Experience

Mary A Ullman et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Regions Hospital started a multidisciplinary antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) in 1998. The program effectively shut down from 2002-2004 as key personnel departed and was then restarted but without the dedicated pharmacist and infectious diseases physician. Purchasing data (in dollars or dollars/patient/day) unadjusted for inflation served as a surrogate marker of antibiotic consumption. These data were reviewed monthly, quarterly, and yearly along with antibiotic susceptibility patterns on a semi-annual basis. Segmented regression analysis was use to compare restricted antibiotic purchases for performance periods of 1998-2001 (construction), 2002-2004 (de-construction), and 2005-2011 (reconstruction). After 4 years (1998-2001) of operation, a number of key participants of the ASP departed. For the following three years (2002-2004) the intensity and focus of the program floundered. This trend was averted when the program was revitalized in early 2005. The construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of our ASP provided a unique opportunity to statistically examine the financial impact of our ASP or lack thereof in the same institution. We demonstrate a significant economic impact during ASP deconstruction and reconstruction.

Keywords: antibiotic costs; antimicrobials; resistance; stewardship.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total antibiotic purchases, Total antibiotic cost per patient per day, and annual census by year.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Segmented regression series analysis of total restricted antibiotic purchases by year during antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) construction (start), deconstruction (stop), and reconstruction (restart) See text for statistic description.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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