Interface between Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics in Managed Care Pharmacy

OBJECTIVE: To review precepts of and practical examples for pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics. DATA SOURCES: Recent clinical and management literature. STUDY SELECTION: Not applicable. DATA EXTRACTION: Not applicable. DATA SYNTHESIS: Consistent with health care goals of the individual patient, the goal of rational drug therapy in a large beneficiary population covered by an integrated health system requires evaluation of clinical options at both the individual and population levels. Pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics provide the tools to perform such analyses. From the discipline of pharmacoepidemilogy, the distribution of diseases and related effects on medication use, both beneficial and adverse, are determined for patient populations. Pharmacoeconomics builds upon these data and provides the methods with which to place economic and quality of life value on those exposures. CONCLUSION: Using the disciplines of pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics, the health care provider can gain...