OBJECTIVES:  To evaluate the economic burden of treatment failure and cure rates in patients with skin and soft tissue infections treated with any anti-MRSA antibiotic in first or subsequent lines. METHODS:  The Orizon database is an administrative database containing over 18 million lives of the Private System. Eligibility criteria were patients with ICD-10 codes: A26, A26.0, A26.8, A26.9, A46, H60.0, H60.1, K12.2, L00, L02, L02.1, L02.2, L02.3, L02.4, L02.8, L02.9, L03, L03.0, L03.1, L03.2, L03.3, L03.8, L03.9 and L08 from May/2012 to Jun/2013. A total of 531 hospitalizations were identified and stratified in two groups: group I (patients that initiated the treatment with any anti-MRSA) and group II (used an anti-MRSA except in the first line). Direct medical costs (DMC) per patient-year were calculated as the sum of medical claims for each patient with an exchange rate of 1 USD = 3,43 BRL. RESULTS:  In group I (n=322), the mean length of stay (LOS) was 12.5 days, the mean DMC was USD 8,046.817 and presented a cure rate with any anti-MRSA of 85.7%. In the subset of cured patients (n=267), the mean LOS was 11.0 days with a mean DMC of USD 6,908.877. It was noteworthy that in group II the cure rate with an anti-MRSA was similar in comparison with group I (84.7%). As expected, the costs were much higher, presenting a mean DMC of USD 16,504.46 and a mean LOS of 21.7 days, even in the subset of patients cured with an anti-MRSA (n=177, mean LOS 19.9 days and mean DMC of USD 14,317.02). CONCLUSIONS:  The cure rates among patients with skin and soft tissue infections that initiated with an anti-MRSA or used after initial failure were high, however the economic impact of delayed appropriate anti-MRSA treatment was associated with an almost doubled resources use and LOS.