Identifying Higher-Volume Antibiotic Outpatient Prescribers Using Publicly Available Medicare Part D Data — United States, 2019

Health care providers vary in their propensity to prescribe antibiotics. Peer comparison audit and feedback is an effective antibiotic stewardship intervention to improve antibiotic prescribing.

The highest 10% of antibiotic prescribers prescribed 41% of total antibiotic prescriptions for Medicare Part D beneficiaries in 2019. The antibiotic prescribing rate of these higher-volume prescribers was 60% higher than that of lower-volume prescribers.

Publicly available Medicare Part D data can be used by public health organizations and health care systems to guide antibiotic stewardship interventions and optimize antibiotic prescribing to limit the emergence of antibiotic resistance and improve patient outcomes.