Pharmacists making house calls: innovative role or overkill?

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Pharmacoeconomics

Background:

• The Medication Management Program (MMP) was initiated in 2005 at Fraser Health Authority.
• Evidence suggested pharmacist home care post-hospital discharge could lower health service resource utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the MMP during its first two years of operation.
• Assessing the impact of pharmacist-led home care on patient health service utilization.

Main Methods:

• A before-and-after analysis compared health service utilization (hospital admissions, physician visits, dispensed medications) for patients receiving pharmacist home visits.
• The net cost of the MMP was calculated.

Main Results:

• Over 1100 patients received pharmacist home visits in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007.
• A median per-patient cost reduction of $11,014 was observed in health service utilization post-intervention.
• After accounting for program costs, a net median cost saving of $3047.43 per patient was achieved.

Conclusions:

• The Medication Management Program demonstrated clinical effectiveness in its initial two years.
• The MMP successfully reduced health service utilization and associated costs.