Pharmacist-coordinated multidisciplinary hospital follow-up visits improve patient outcomes

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 allows for the adjustment of reimbursement to health care centers based on 30-day readmission rates. High readmission rates may be explained by multiple events at discharge, including medication errors that occur during the transition of care from inpatient to outpatient. Pharmacist involvement at discharge has been shown to improve health outcomes in patients with chronic disease; however, there is limited knowledge regarding the benefits of a clinic appointment with a pharmacist postdischarge. To compare hospital readmission rates and interventions in a multidisciplinary team visit coordinated by a clinical pharmacist practitioner with those conducted by a physician-only team within an internal medicine hospital follow-up program. A retrospective observational study was completed. Patients seen between May 2012 and January 2013 in 1 of the 2 hospital follow-up program models (multidisciplinary team or physician-only team) were included. A total of 140 patient visits were included for 124 patients. Patients seen by the multidisciplinary team had a 30-day readmission rate of 14.3% compared with 34.3% by the physician-only team (P=0.010). Interventions completed during the visits, including addressing nonadherence, initiating a new medication, and discontinuing a medication were also statistically different between the groups, with the multidisciplinary team completing these interventions more frequently. Hospital follow-up visits coordinated by the multidisciplinary team decreased 30-day hospital readmission rates compared with follow-up visits by a physician-only team.