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Medication review service linked with prolonged time to next hospitalization for HF
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Patients hospitalized with HF who were exposed to a home-delivered, collaborative medication review service with a pharmacist and a physician tended to have delayed time until their next HF hospitalization.
Researchers for the retrospective study examined administrative claims data from 5,717 veterans aged ≥65 years who had HF. Patients were either exposed to a home medication review from a general practitioner-pharmacist collaborative team (n=273) or were exposed to no such service (n=5,444). The home medication review included a physician referral, a home visit from a pharmacist to check for medication-related problems, a report submitted by the pharmacist and follow-up from the physician. The study took place between January 2004 and July 2006.
According to the adjusted study results, patients exposed to the home medication review had a 45% reduction in the rate of hospitalization for HF at any time (HR=0.55; 95% CI, 0.39-0.77) compared with those who were not exposed to the service. The researchers reported that 5.5% of the group exposed to the service was hospitalized for HF within one year of their index hospitalization, compared with 12% of patients in the group that did not receive the service.
“The results observed in our study are consistent with those reported in [a] systematic review finding [that] collaborative medication review is effective in the HF population,” the researchers wrote. “If the findings of this study are replicated in other patient groups who are at high risk of medication misadventure and consequent rehospitalization, there will be an even stronger case to require pharmacists to be involved in this extension of their role in collaboration with physicians.”
Roughead E. Circ Heart Fail. 2009;doi:10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.109.861013.