关键词：处方药;门诊;治疗;成年人;费用;人口;家庭;药物
摘 要：This Statistical Brief provides descriptive statistics on expenditures for the top five therapeutic classes of outpatient prescription drugs, ranked by total expenses in 2009 for Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older in the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. Prescription drug therapeutic classes are defined according to the Multum Lexicon therapeutic classification system (see Definitions). In 2009, 18 broad therapeutic classifications were identified. The estimates presented are derived from the Household and Pharmacy Components of the 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Expenditures include payments for Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older from all sources (e.g., out of pocket, private, and public insurance sources) for outpatient prescription drug purchases during 2009. Insulin and diabetic supplies and equipment are also included in MEPS prescribed medicines estimates. Over-the-counter medicines are excluded from these estimates as are prescription medicines administered in an inpatient setting or in a clinic or physicians office. All differences discussed in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better.