According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there are about 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events (ADE) in the United States each year. It is estimated that ADEs cost as much as $5.6 million per hospital annually. Even in good economic times, South Carolina’s hospitals cannot afford the human or financial costs of medication errors. In 2008, an HSSC-supported SmartState Center in Medication Safety and Efficacy was approved. The Center’s goal is to reduce healthcare costs in South Carolina by 10 percent a year over the next decade by implementing better medication management practices and improving the dissemination of drug information to hospitals, physicians and patients.
