Table 5.
Estimated Medical Professional Liability Costs Associated with Inpatient Adverse Drug Events
| Number of inpatient hospital licensed bedsa | 931,000 |
| Inpatient hospital annual MPL cost per licensed bedb | $3700 |
| Total annual inpatient hospital MPL cost | $3.48 billion |
| Estimated percentage of hospital MPL cost attributable to ADEs resulting from injectable medicationsc | 6.5% |
| Ratio of physician plus facility MPL cost to facility MPL costd | 2 |
| Annual inpatient ADE MPL cost resulting from injectable medication | $450 million (95% CI, $300 million-$610 million) |
| Average annual inpatient ADE MPL cost associated with injectable medication per hospital (total of 6268 hospitals)b | $72,000 |
a
American Hospital Association. AHA Hospital Statistics, 2012 edition. 2012. www.aha.org/research/rc/stat-studies/fast-facts.shtml. Accessed September 17, 2012. Adjusted to remove nonacute beds.
b
Authors' analysis of hospital MPL premium rates.
c
Authors' analysis of National Practitioner Data Bank.
d
Authors' analysis of the Florida Department of Insurance Closed Claim Database.
ADEs indicates adverse drug events; CI, confidence interval; MPL, medical professional liability.