A method of determining an Antibiotic Utilization Criteria (AUC) marker includes assigning an AUC=1 to a patient if certain criteria are met: (1) antimicrobials were first dispensed to the patient after an initial number of days has passed since the patient's admission to a hospital, and either (2a) the antimicrobials were dispensed to the patient for a determined number of consecutive days after the day of first dispense, or (2b) the antimicrobials were dispensed to the patient on consecutive days after the day of first dispense up to and including the day on which the patient either was discharged or died. If criteria (1) is not satisfied or both of alternate criteria (2a) and (2b) are not satisfied, an AUC=0 is assigned to the patient.