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Cost avoidance from dose rounding biologic and cytotoxic antineoplastics
Thomas H Vandyke1, Paul W Athmann1, Corey M Ballmer2
11 Department of Pharmacy, Spectrum Health Hospitals, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
Summary
Pharmacist-managed dose rounding of anticancer agents significantly reduced drug waste. This practice achieved nearly $200,000 in annual cost avoidance by optimizing biologic and cytotoxic drug utilization.
Area of Science:
- Oncology Pharmacy
- Health Economics
- Drug Utilization
Background:
- Healthcare institutions aim to minimize product wastage.
- Automatic dose rounding is implemented for biologic and cytotoxic anticancer agents.
- Reducing wastage is crucial for cost-effective cancer care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the annual cost avoidance from pharmacist-managed automatic dose rounding of anticancer treatments.
- To assess the financial impact of dose rounding policies in an oncology setting.
Main Methods:
- Financial impact was assessed based on departmental standard work for dose rounding.
- Biologic agents were rounded by ±10% and cytotoxic agents by ±5% to the nearest vial size.
- Cost avoidance was calculated using product acquisition costs and excluding specific drug categories.
Main Results:
- Nearly $200,000 in product acquisition cost was avoided annually.
- Biologic agents contributed significantly to cost avoidance (78%) despite representing only 7% of doses.
- Approximately 37% of biologic and 4% of cytotoxic doses were rounded up.
Conclusions:
- Routine dose rounding of anticancer agents effectively reduces drug wastage.
- Pharmacist-managed rounding policies lead to substantial cost avoidance in cancer treatment.
- Optimizing dosing strategies is key to improving efficiency in oncology pharmacy practice.
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