Replacing Liquid Antibiotics With Cheaper Pill Equivalents

An Opportunity for Substantial Savings

Hori, Kristen S.
Siu, Andrea M. MPH
Yamamoto, Loren G. MD, MPH, MBA

¹Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children, Hawai’i Pacific Health, Honolulu, HI, USA
²University of Hawai’i, Honolulu, HI, USA

Loren G. Yamamoto, Department of Pediatrics, University of Hawai’i John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1319 Punahou Street, 7th Floor, Honolulu, HI 96826, USA. Email: [email protected]

Clinical Pediatrics 57(11):p 1294-1299, October 2018. | DOI: 10.1177/0009922818774340

Liquid antibiotics are often substantially more expensive than their pill counterparts, representing an opportunity for substantial cost reductions. Children can be taught to swallow pills at about age 6 years. The objective of this study was to calculate the potential cost saved by replacing liquid antibiotics with cheaper pill equivalents for pediatric patients for the antibiotic prescriptions written by a health care system. A retrospective smart cost analysis was performed of pediatric patients within a health care system, age 6 to less than 18 years of age receiving a liquid antibiotic prescription. The estimated cost savings over the span of 2 years for 15 161 prescriptions was $1 million. In order to achieve these substantial savings, pediatricians could encourage parents to teach their children to swallow pills at a young age and prescribe cheaper pill equivalents over liquid medications at an earlier age.