摘要
Background： Hospital readmissions are common, costly and largely preventable. Objectives： To evaluate the impact of a pharmacy-led medication discharge and post discharge counseling program on 30 day readmission rates for HF （heart failure） and AMI （acute myocardial infarction）. Methods： Three month prospective, quality improvement, pilot study with I-IF and AMI patients who received pre-discharge and post-discharge medication counseling from December 2013 to February 2014 whose 30 day readmission rates were compared to readmission rates from the previous fiscal year.Results： Fifty-one patients were included in the study. Primary endpoint of30-day readmission rates showed a 33.9% decrease for AMI and a 50.1% decrease for HF in readmission rates compared to the previous fiscal year, with a potential annual savings of $458,800. The study also identified 25.5% of patients having at least one medication error that was identified through medication reconciliation. Conclusions： Pharmacy provided medication reconciliation and medication discharge counseling reduced readmission rates as well as decreased medication errors. There is also a potential for significant health cost savings.
