Many people think of drug costs as just the actual cost of the drug product.
One of the goals of ASCP is to disseminate the important message that drug costs are much broader than just the cost of the drug product. When an ineffective drug is used, the patient may become sicker and require hospitalization or an extra visit to the physician. These extra costs are examples of the cost of medication related problems. Adverse drug reactions and lack of adherence to drug therapy by the patient also increase the overall treatment costs. ASCP has developed a model to explain the total costs of treatment with medications.