Pharmaceutical Cost Savings in the Intensive Care Unit.

Health care costs are rising in the United States with a significant amount of this spend attributed to pharmaceutical costs. The reasons for rising pharmaceutical costs are multifactorial and may include the increase in single source manufacturers of generic medications, drug shortages, the Food and Drug Administration's unapproved drug approval initiative, and generic rebranding. Many of these factors impact the intensive care unit directly creating the need to implement cost-savings strategies to ensure the financial health of an organization and reduce the financial burden for patients.

Mortality and readmission of outcomes after discharge from the surgical intensive care unit to long-term, acute-care hospitals.

Background: Patients with prolonged hospitalizations in the surgical intensive care unit often have ongoing medical needs that require further care at long-term, acute-care hospitals upon discharge. Setting expectations for patients and families after protracted operative intensive care unit hospitalization is challenging, and there are limited data to guide these conversations. The purpose of this study was to determine patient survival and readmission rates after discharge from the surgical intensive care unit directly to a long-term, acute-care hospital.