Urinary tract infections

Women between the ages of 18 years and 64 years with the easiest-to-treat UTIs average 1.07 office visits, 2.36 prescriptions, and 2.34 laboratory and pathology services per PTE. Laboratory services were performed an average of 2.27 times per PTE on an outpatient basis. This patient group did not receive a significant amount of hospital admissions or professional inpatient services. Approximately 71% of all PTEs were treated with pharmaceutical therapy. Of the overall charges for UTIs, 31% were for prescription drug therapy. Of those patients treated with a single drug group, almost 33% were treated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and 13.2% were treated with a fluoroquinolone. Considering the potential cost savings of encouraging adherence to clinical prescribing guidelines, further investigation of physician prescribing patterns for uncomplicated UTIs may prove valuable to health plans.