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Cost of medications for elderly in a nursing home.

The rising cost of medical care, particularly for elderly patients in nursing homes, is receiving increasing attention. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cost of and the average number of medications taken per patient in a nursing home. The study included 116 residents of a nursing home in New Orleans, Louisiana. Relevant information about the number of medications taken by each patient on a regular basis was obtained by chart review. The cost of medications was calculated from the Red Book (which represents the cost of drugs to the pharmacy), because the medication prices charged by the nursing home were not available. The number of medications used per patient per day expressed as mean +/- S.D. was 8.1 +/- 4.1. The cost of medications per patient per month expressed as mean +/- S.D. was $182 +/- 141. The estimated annual cost of medications per patient was $2,184. It is highly likely that the cost to the patient is higher than the cost shown here. This preliminary study shows that elderly patients take several medications associated with significant expense.