Impact of prophylactic therapy for postoperative thromboembolism on prospective payment

Widescale implementation of prospective payment systems as a means of reimbursing hospitals on the basis of diagnosis-related group designation has important implications with respect to the selection of drug therapy. Instead of analyzing costs on a departmental basis, pharmacists need to identify the impact of optimal drug therapy on overall profitability. Clinically evident deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism occur in approximately 3.5% and 1.8% of patients undergoing general surgery. Treatment of these complications consumes hospital resources, but the hospital absorbs the cost of treatment under the prospective payment system. Effective prophylactic measures increase profitability by preventing complications and minimizing the proportion of outliers due to increased length of stay. In selecting prophylactic measures, this impact on overall profitability is as important as acquisition cost. For example, in comparison with no prophylaxis, dihydroergotamine-heparin reduces the frequency of deep venous thrombosis in patients undergoing general surgery by 61.5% and heparin alone reduces it by 31.2%. The relative effect of this combination on postoperative complications and resultant savings in terms of treating them compensates for differences in acquisition costs between these measures.