Editors' roundtable: Current formulas for P & T Committee success (Part 1).

In this roundtable discussion, the four editors of Hospital Formulary--Arthur G. Lipman, Pharm D, Harold C. Neu, MD, Bramah N. Singh, MD, PhD, and Michael Weintraub, MD--share their views on key issues that affect hospital P & T Committees. They agree that the P & T Committee is both highly visible and functions well, and they predict that its influence in the health care system wil heighten as prospective reimbursement continues. Challenges P & T Committees are confronted with today, such as therapeutic entities from new technologies, use of approved drugs for unapproved indications, and the need for educating and re-educating the medical staff are discussed. Cost containment continues to become a more and more important consideration with maintained patient care quality. Successful strategies for coping with and benefiting from these challenges are presented.