Prescribing of clotrimazole-betamethasone dipropionate, a topical combination corticosteroid-antifungal product, for Medicare part D beneficiaries, United States, 2016-2022

Dustin W Currie; Avrom S Caplan; Kaitlin Benedict; Kelly M Hatfield; Dallas J Smith; Shari R Lipner; Jeremy A W Gold

doi:10.1017/ash.2024.435

Prescribing of clotrimazole-betamethasone dipropionate, a topical combination corticosteroid-antifungal product, for Medicare part D beneficiaries, United States, 2016-2022

Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2024 Oct 17;4(1):e174. doi: 10.1017/ash.2024.435. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Dustin W Currie¹, Avrom S Caplan², Kaitlin Benedict¹, Kelly M Hatfield¹, Dallas J Smith¹, Shari R Lipner³, Jeremy A W Gold¹

Affiliations

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
² The Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
³ Israel Englander Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

Abstract

During 2016-2022, Medicare part D beneficiaries filled 8,674,460 clotrimazole-betamethasone dipropionate prescriptions. Annual rates were stable (30.9 prescriptions/1,000 beneficiary-years in 2022, enough for one in every 33 beneficiaries). Diagnostic testing was infrequent, particularly among internal medicine, family medicine, and general practitioners, suggesting potential opportunities to improve diagnostic and prescribing practices.