Soumerai, StephenLipton, Helene L.2017-05-161995Soumerai, Stephen B., and Helene L. Lipton. 1995. “Computer-Based Drug-Utilization Review — Risk, Benefit, or Boondoggle?” New England Journal of Medicine 332 (24) (June 15): 1641–1645. doi:10.1056/nejm199506153322411.0028-4793http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:32692607On October 28, 1990, with little debate, Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, requiring the states to provide claims-based drug-utilization review to approximately 34 million Medicaid enrollees. The provisions of the program were borrowed from the ill-fated Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988, repealed in 1990; the stated goals were to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing and dispensing of medications, enhance the counseling of patients, and reduce growth in expenditures for drugs. Drug-utilization review is a structured, ongoing program that interprets patterns of drug use in relation to predetermined criteria and attempts to prevent or minimize inappropriate prescribing.en-USJournal Article2017-05-1610.1056/NEJM199506153322411