OBJECTIVES: Acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) are among the most common infections treated in the hospital setting, and analysis of hospital claims indicate that approximately 74% of ABSSSI hospitalizations involve empiric treatment with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)-active antibiotics. Many patients continue treatment post-hospital discharge; little is known, however, about real-world prescribing patterns. The purpose of this analysis was to characterize current prescribing patterns at hospital discharge in the United States (US). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted using Arlington Medical Resources’ (AMR’s) Hospital Antibiotic Market audit, January-June 2011. The audit is comprised of data elements including patient demographics, diagnosis, therapy sequence, switching, and concomitance, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), discharge drug, and drug costs. RESULTS: A sample of 781,331 adult hospitalized patients with ABSSSI who received MRSA-active IV antibiotics, projected to national volume, were included for analysis. Vancomycin was the most commonly prescribed MRSA-active antibiotic, administered to 57.07% of patients at any time during hospitalization. Linezolid IV (3.84%), tigecycline (2.88%), and daptomycin (1.92%) were used less frequently. Approximately 31% of patients were discharged with an order for MRSA-active IV antibiotics. Vancomycin was the most commonly prescribed IV antibiotic at discharge, prescribed to 24.83% of patients. Daptomycin was the next most commonly prescribed IV drug at discharge (3.71%). All other IV antibiotics were prescribed in <1% of patients. Many patients were prescribed oral antibiotics at discharge, and may have been prescribed more than one drug. Cephalexin (33.99%), TMP-SMZ (17.22%), clindamycin (11.08%), and linezolid (9.45%) were the most commonly prescribed oral antibiotics at hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 40% of ABSSSI patients are discharged on a MRSA-active antibiotic. MRSA-active antibiotics that do not require multiple days of ambulatory treatment following hospitalization have the potential to reduce resource utilization associated with continued outpatient treatment.