Title: Impact of Transitions of Care Pharmacy on Hospital Readmission Rates
Authors: Sharron Fernandez, Souraya El-Sayed Abdallah, and Imran Chughtai.
Objective: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participant will be able to describe the impact of a pharmacist-led transition of care program on thirty-day hospital readmission rates.
Self-Assessment Question: What is the overall goal of implementing pharmacist-led transitions of care initiatives?
Background: Thirty-day hospital readmissions are costly and subject to penalties under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. This study evaluates the impact of a transitions of care pharmacy program on thirty-day all-cause readmissions compared with usual discharge processes.
Methods: This single-center prospective study was submitted to the Institutional Review Board and conducted over a three-month period. Adult patients aged eighteen years or older discharged to home or assisted living who met Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program criteria were included. Interventions consisted of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, patient education and discharge counseling, provision of a plain-language medication list and personalized action plan, and post-discharge follow-up phone calls at forty-eight to seventy-two hours, seven to fourteen days, and thirty days after discharge. The primary outcome was thirty-day all-cause readmission rate. Secondary outcomes included adherence to the transitions of care plan, number of medication discrepancies identified, and classification of medication-related errors.
Results: Results are pending. Final analysis will compare thirty-day hospital readmission rates between patients receiving pharmacist-led transitions of care services and those receiving standard discharge processes. Secondary outcomes including medication discrepancies, medication-related errors, and adherence to transitions of care plans will also be evaluated.
Conclusion: It is anticipated that implementation of a pharmacist-led transitions of care program will reduce thirty-day hospital readmissions and identify clinically significant medication-related problems. Findings from this study may support expansion of pharmacist involvement in transitions of care to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
