Managed Drug Use in Assisted Living and Home Care Settings Who Benefits

In this article, the issue of who benefits from managed drug use in assisted living and home care settings is addressed from a clinical perspective. Benefit in clinical terms is always focused on the patient as an individual and not on the system or process of providing managed drug use. Indeed, the traditional definition of managed drug use is abandoned in this article. Rather, managed drug use is defined as ‘the appropriate and rational use of drugs based on the patient’s individual and unique medical history and current diagnoses and encompasses the use of prescribed, purchased and consumed drugs.’ Because the majority of patients receiving healthcare in the assisted living or home care setting are elderly, the question ‘how can drugs be managed more appropriately?’ in the older population in the assisted living and home care setting is posed. While the answers to this question are not complex nor original, the authors of this article believe they serve as the foundation for achieving optimal ‘managed drug use’ in assisted living facilities and in the home.