Medical and Economic Effects of the Introduction of New Drugs Analysis of the Effects of Brain Protection Drug (Edaravone) Using Medical Accounting Data, etc.
(Former Senior Researcher, Pharmaceutical and Industrial Policy Research Institute)
(No.26: Published in June 2005)
Using data from the medical accounting system installed in almost 100% of Japanese hospitals, we attempted to verify the medical and economic effects of cerebroprotective agent (edaravone) as a target drug in the treatment of acute cerebral infarction. The indices were "mortality rate," "readmission rate," "average length of hospital stay," "inpatient medical costs (reimbursement points)," and "discharge (transfer) destination. The average length of hospital stay tended to shorten when the target drugs were used, the number of reimbursement points decreased, although the number of injection points increased, and the total medical cost per patient remained unchanged. The results of the study suggest the possibility of medical effects that lead to improvement of patients' conditions.