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Advancing the Responsible Use of Medicines: Applying Levers for Change

In light of increasing access to medicines worldwide due to the availability of generics, it is important to assess whether medicines add value in the context of the health system. Firstly, this research frames suboptimal medicine use within 9 distinct levers with relevance to developed and developing countries. These 9 levers include nonadherence, delayed medicine use, medication errors, antibiotic misuse/overuse, suboptimal generic use, mismanaged polypharmacy, medicine shortages, substandard/counterfeit medicines and misuse of expensive therapies. Secondly, the research quantifies the avoidable healthcare costs due to suboptimal medicine use for 6 primary levers across 186 countries: 500 billion USD (2011) in avoidable costs worldwide. Third, the report provides 18 distinct case studies from 12 different countries on how governments are taking action to improve the use of medicines. Finally, 50 recommendations are offered primarily to policymakers but also to providers, payers, pharmacists, patients, the pharmaceutical industry and other healthcare stakeholders. 5 key recommendations are prioritized as rapid time to impact, low investment level and high outcomes. The report includes a chapter on the role of health informatics in improving medicine use and related challenges for health policymakers. This report was conducted as a public service by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.