Pharmacists making house calls: innovative role or overkill?

BACKGROUND The Medication Management Program was established at the Fraser Health Authority in 2005, in response to evidence suggesting that having pharmacists provide care to patients in their homes after discharge from hospital could reduce subsequent utilization of health service resources. OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of the Medication Management Program in its first 2 years of operation. METHODS For patients who had received a home visit by a pharmacist, the utilization of health services (admissions to hospital, physician office visits, and dispensed medications) in the year before the home visit was compared with utilization during the year after the intervention. The net cost of the program was also determined. RESULTS In the first 2 years of the Medication Management Program (2005/2006 and 2006/2007), a total of 1171 patients received a home visit from a pharmacist. Of these, 836 (71%) were included in the before-and-after analysis. The median per-patient cost for utilization of health services was $11 014 lower in the year after the intervention than in the year preceding the intervention. After the costs of the program were taken into account, this resulted in a net median cost reduction of $3047.43 per patient. CONCLUSION The Medication Management Program was effective as a clinical program in its first 2 years.