In other words, it appeared that Americans were paying almost as much for drug-related problems as they were for the drugs themselves. These data have been supported by several other reports, including statistics indicating that greater than 16 percent of all hospital admissions in the United States result from drug-related problems. The U.S. General Accounting Office has also taken notice of the issue. In a report published in July of 1995, GAO defined the potential for adverse drug reactions as a serious health problem for our nation's elderly. According to the definitions established in this study, consultant pharmacy services result in more than a 40 percent increase in successful therapy.
Consultant pharmacists decrease treatment failures by greater than a third.
The Fleetwood Project is the first global research effort undertaken to measure the impact of consultant pharmacist services on patient outcomes and costs. And Phase I is just the tip of the iceberg. Only the Beginning The Fleetwood Project is being implemented in three phases, with data being analyzed after the completion of each phase. The results of each phase will help to fine-tune the hypothesis and methodology of the next study phase. Phase I was designed to set a benchmark for the costs of drug-related problems in nursing facilities.