STOP Adverse Drug Reactions From
Taking Their Toll on Your Patients
…and Your PROFITS!
The Right Drug
The Right Dose
Right From The Start
How Much Are ADRs Costing Your Hospital?
On average, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) prolong hospital stays by 1.7 to 4.6 days1, which results in lost revenue for the hospital. For a 350-bed hospital, managed-care cost associated with ADRs are approximately 2.8 million annually.2
Aided by pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing, doctors can quickly determine which medications may not work for a patient based on their DNA. This information allows them to individualize a patient’s medication plan according to their genetic makeup, thereby reducing adverse reactions, minimizing variations in treatment outcomes, and enhancing resource utilization while reducing costs.
Fast Facts
- Studies estimate that 6.7% of hospitalized patients have a serious adverse drug reaction.2
- About 75% of patients have at least one variant in the metabolic factories in their liver and intestines and do not metabolize drugs normally.3
- Roughly 50 percent of hospital patients are prescribed a drug in any one-year period that could cause serious side effects because of their genetic makeup.4 This means that ADRs and their associated cost are largely a preventive problem.4
- Vanderbilt studied 9,500 of heart patients and found that 91 percent had at least one gene version that would prompt doctors to recommend a change in dose or medication.
- PGx testing can help you maintain CMS compliance while dramatically improving patient care and overall satisfaction, at no extra cost for the hospital or the patients.
- Given the astronomical number of deaths, ER visits, hospitalizations and suffering attributed to preventable ADRs,
it’s astonishing most doctors continue to practice the “one-size-fits-all” approach to prescribing drugs.
1ODPHD | Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 2FDA- Center for Education Research- www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-interactions-
labeling/preventable-adverse-drug-reactions-focus-drug-interactions 3M. Stempniak H&HN Daily. 2015. 4St. Jude and Vanderbilt Medical Center.
The Safer, Humane, More Profitable Solution
Medicare and Medicaid* will now cover a Pharmacogenetic (PGx) test that reduces the need for “trial-and-error” prescribing.
By utilizing PGx testing, understanding the intricate connections between DNA and medication treatment options has never been easier.
With a simple cheek swab, physicians can now determine if a medication is more likely to help or harm a patient before prescribing the drug.
This not only saves hospitals millions of dollars it also reduces the undue pain and suffering for their patients caused by preventable Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs).
*Medicaid in approved states
Not All Pharmacogenetic (PGx) Test Are Created Equal
It is essential to mention that most labs focus on only a limited number of drugs, genes, and variants, so many physicians have never been exposed to
an efficacious test. This has led to some hesitation among doctors in implementing PGx tests.
An efficacious PGx tests utilizes Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) assay to provide clinically actionable information for medications across a broad
range of medical fields, including anesthesiology, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, immunology, infectious diseases,
neurology, oncology, pain management, psychiatry, respiratory, rheumatology, toxicology, urology, and more.
The test also yields results for drug-drug, drug-food, drug-alcohol, and drug-lab interactions.
*Typically, test results take about ten days, so preemptive testing is highly recommended so the results
are readily available in a medical emergency or before trying a new drug.
Benefits of PGx and Personalized Medicine
More Informed Prescribing Decisions
Saves Time
Saves Money
Reduces ER Visits
Reduces Hospital Readmissions
Reduces Mortality Rates
Reduces Pain & Suffering
Enhances Safety Measures
Achieve Therapeutic Benefits Sooner
Lifetime Utility
Covered by Medicare and Medicaid*
*Medicaid in approved States
Financial Cost and Consequences of
“Trial and Error” Prescribing
Real People- Real Cases - Real Proof - Real Cost
Marion W.
Marion was PGx tested in April 2019. Based on the results, her doctor advised her to stop taking the Metoprolol, which she had been taking for years, and decreased the dosage of her HBP medications. Two years later, her pain management doctor ignored her PGx report and prescribed 300 mg of Tramadol, which caused a life-threatening ADR, and she was hospitalized for three days. If her doctor had adhered to the PGx report guidelines, all the expense and suffering could have been avoided.
Mike F.
Mike was having difficulty sleeping, so his doctor prescribed Escitalopram. After five weeks of undesirable side effects and no relief, he had a PGx test and learned he was a rapid metabolizer of Escitalopram. If he had been preemptively PGx tested, it would have saved him and his insurance company money and Mike time by avoiding a useless trip to the pharmacy to purchase an ineffective drug. More importantly, he would have received relief weeks sooner.
Dorothy J.
Dorothy was experiencing a piercing headache, so she went to the ER. They gave her Reglan 5mg, IV push once, and Toradol 15 mg. A few days later, she had stroke-like symptoms, so her doctor ordered an MRI. Several months later, she had a PGx test and discovered that she was a slow metabolizer of Toradol. If she had a preemptive PGx test, it could have saved her insurance carrier thousands of dollars and spared her the distress and anguish caused by a preventable ADR.
