Older Adults Who Heed Pharmacist MSR Advice Have Fewer Hospitalizations, Lower Mortality

Implementing pharmacists’ medication safety review (MSR) recommendations, compared with failing to do so, was associated with improved health care resource use and mortality among high-risk older Americans, according to study results published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

“An MSR is a novel, pharmacist-driven, technology-supported intervention that prioritizes adverse drug event risk mitigation,” explained researchers. “Previous research has shown that Medicare Part D beneficiaries who received MSRs in an Enhanced Medication Therapy Management model realized improvements in total Medicare spending, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and mortality compared to control.”

This study investigated the effect of enacting MSR recommendations among beneficiaries targeted for MSR services. Researchers compared 2 groups: (1) those who received a first MSR in 2018, received a second in 2019, and confirmed the implementation of one or more of the recommendations; and (2) those targeted for MSR services in 2018 and 2019 but who did not engage in an MSR at any point.

Among 4384 beneficiaries who received MSRs, 602 older adults (OAs) implemented one or more recommendations. Compared with OAs who did not engage in an MSR, OAs who enacted at least one MSR recommendation had annual total Medicare costs that were $2162 lower and annual Part A Medicare costs that were $1855 lower, according to study authors.

OAs who implemented MSR advice also had 9.1 fewer annual hospital admissions per 100 beneficiaries, 10.8 fewer annual emergency department visits per 100 beneficiaries, and lower mortality, researchers reported. Specifically, 3.8% fewer beneficiaries who enacted MSR guidance died in 2019 compared with beneficiaries who did not engage in MSR services.

Reference:
Bankes DL, Jin H, Williams R, et al. Implementing pharmacists’ medication safety recommendations is associated with reduced healthcare resource utilization and mortality in high-risk older Americans. J Am Pharm Assoc. Published online August 30, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2022.08.022