A pharmacist collaborative drug therapy management protocol increased utilization of a bedside medication delivery service at discharge (77.8% vs 68.7%; P<0.0001) without affecting 30-day readmissions.
Observational (n=3,904)
No
Does a pharmacist collaborative drug therapy management protocol improve utilization of a discharge prescription program and reduce 30-day hospital readmissions in patients discharged from cardiology services?
A pharmacist collaborative drug therapy management protocol significantly increased the utilization of bedside medication delivery services at discharge but did not reduce 30-day hospital readmissions.
Absolute Event Rate: 77.8% vs 68.7%
p-value: p=< 0.0001
PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of a collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) agreement allowing a pharmacist to automatically prescribe refills of discharge medications to patients' preferred outpatient pharmacy on utilization of a hospital discharge prescription program and hospital readmission rates. METHODS: This was a single-center, quasi-experimental pre-post intervention study. Patients aged 18 years or older discharged from the cardiology services to home were eligible for inclusion in the study. The CDTM agreement was initiated on July 1, 2019. Patients discharged to home from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, were assigned to the historical control group. The primary outcome was the difference in the proportion of patients who used the bedside medication delivery service at hospital discharge between the groups. Secondary outcomes included 30-day hospital readmissions and a descriptive analysis of medications prescribed by a pharmacist through the program. A χ2 test was used to assess the primary outcome, and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess hospital readmissions. RESULTS: In total, 1,704 and 2,200 patients were discharged in the control and CDTM groups, respectively. The CDTM group had a greater proportion of patients who participated in the discharge prescription program compared to the historical control group (77.8% vs 68.7%; P < 0.0001). There was no difference in 30-day hospital readmission rate between the groups (adjusted odds ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.83-1.23; P = 0.94). CONCLUSION: A CDTM protocol to improve the availability of medication refills at a patient's regular outpatient pharmacy improved utilization of a bedside medication delivery service but did not change 30-day readmission rates.
Rafferty et al. (Sat,) conducted a observational in Discharged from cardiology services (n=3,904). Collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) protocol vs. Historical control was evaluated on Proportion of patients who used the bedside medication delivery service at hospital discharge (p=< 0.0001). A pharmacist collaborative drug therapy management protocol increased utilization of a bedside medication delivery service at discharge (77.8% vs 68.7%; P<0.0001) without affecting 30-day readmissions.