Impact of obtaining prescriptions upon discharge on hospital readmissions in a large healthcare system.

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Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a discharge pharmacy program on hospital readmission rates among adult patients.

Methods: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted across 4 hospitals and their partnered discharge pharmacy for the period from July 2022 to July 2023. Adult patients aged 18 years or older who were discharged from an inpatient hospital unit and had their prescriptions sent to an Ascension Seton hospital-based discharge pharmacy before leaving the hospital were compared to those whose prescriptions were sent elsewhere. This comparison was conducted to assess the impact of an integrated healthcare delivery approach. Baseline characteristics, such as the number of discharge medications, index admission diagnoses, and discharge unit, were collected for comparison. The primary endpoint was the rate of 30-day hospital readmission, with secondary endpoints including the readmission rate within 31 to 60 days and reasons for 30-day readmission.

Results: A total of 15,690 patients were included in the study (3,376 in the Ascension Seton hospital-based discharge pharmacy group and 12,314 in the control group). The rate of hospital readmission within 30 days from the index visit was 3.31% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.99% to 3.63%) in the non-Ascension Seton pharmacy group compared to 2.10% (95% CI, 1.62% to 2.58%) in the Ascension Seton pharmacy group. The difference in 30-day hospital readmission rate was statistically significant (P = 0.01), with an absolute difference of 1.21%.

Conclusion: A statistically significant decrease in 30-day hospital readmission rate was seen in the Ascension Seton hospital-based discharge pharmacy group compared to the study group that had their discharge prescriptions sent to a pharmacy other than an Ascension Seton hospital-based discharge pharmacy.