Objective: To decrease the number of orders and total hospital spend for inpatient use of antineoplastic drugs of interest, while evaluating each case for urgent or emergent need for administration.
Methodology: This study is a multicenter, retrospective, cost-evaluation, cohort study performed in five Ascension Seton hospitals in the Austin, Texas area between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2018. Patients were identified via a dispense analysis report for the antineoplastic drugs of interest.
Results: An overall reduction of 56% was seen in orders processed with a 62% decrease in annual hospital spending after implementation of the criteria-for-use algorithm. When results were evaluated without including rituximab orders, a reduction of 17% was seen in orders processed with a 21% decrease in annual hospital spending.
Discussion and conclusion: The decreases in our primary outcomes were primarily driven by a reduction in the use of one drug, rituximab. Overall, implementation of a criteria-for-use algorithm was effective in reducing both overall number of orders and hospital spending for restricted antineoplastic agents.
Keywords: Oncology; antineoplastic; criteria-for-use algorithm; non-formulary; spending.