Parkland Memorial Hospital's self-care IV therapy program

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Health Services Research
• Health Equity

Background:

• Healthcare disparities exist in administering long-term intravenous antimicrobial therapy, particularly for uninsured patients.
• Uninsured patients requiring prolonged IV antibiotics were traditionally admitted as inpatients, occupying valuable hospital beds.
• Inpatient treatment for non-acute needs poses risks of nosocomial infections and burdens patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address disparities in healthcare delivery and inappropriate resource utilization.
• To establish an accessible and equitable outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) program for uninsured patients.
• To reduce unnecessary hospitalizations for patients requiring long-term IV antibiotics.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a novel Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Clinic at Parkland Health.
• Provided long-term IV antibiotic administration to uninsured patients outside of traditional inpatient settings.
• Focused on enabling patients to receive necessary treatment while minimizing hospital stays.

Main Results:

• Enabled uninsured patients to receive critical IV antibiotic treatment without prolonged inpatient stays.
• Freed up inpatient beds for acutely ill patients, optimizing hospital resource allocation.
• Reduced the disparity in care quality between insured and uninsured patients needing long-term antibiotics.

Conclusions:

• The novel OPAT program successfully reduced healthcare disparities for uninsured patients.
• The initiative demonstrated effective resource management by decreasing unnecessary hospitalizations.
• This model improves patient quality of life and access to essential treatments.