English
A contract between French hospitals and national health authorities was signed in early 2006 to improve the rational use of antibiotics in hospitals. The contract offers a financial reward in the event of decreased spending as a result of hospital prescriptions dispensed in community pharmacies compared to the previous year. The article describes the limitations relating to the financial rewards defined by the contract, particularly those concerning the measurement and relevance of the chosen indicator. Since no national data are currently available, quantitative results drawn from the Midi-Pyrénées region are used to illustrate the analysis.
Keywords
- antibiotics
- hospital
- health policy
- drug costs