Access to Telepharmacy Services May Reduce Hospital Admissions in Outpatient Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Avoidable hospital admissions put increased pressure on already strained health care resources, causing emotional and financial distress for patients and their families while taxing the health system. Pharmacist involvement in patient care has been shown to improve health care outcomes. Telepharmacy allows for personalized interaction and access to pharmacy services in a flexible format. The primary aim of this report is to explore the impact that access to a personalized telepharmacy service has on the hospital admission rate in an outpatient population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A retrospective, double-arm cohort study was performed. Hospital admission rates were analyzed in two similarly aged groups; one group (n = 2,242) had access to telepharmacy services through their primary care provider and another group did not (n = 1,540), from 2019 to 2020. Statistical analysis was performed to explore hospitalization rates in both groups. Results: An increase in hospitalization rates was observed in both groups of patients from 2019 to 2020. The patient group that had access to the telepharmacy service demonstrated a reduced rise in hospitalization rates versus the group without access to the telepharmacy service (access group +12.9% vs. nonaccess group +40.2%, p < 0.05, Student's t-test). Discussion: The patient group with access to telepharmacy services demonstrated a reduced increase in hospitalizations versus the group without access in 2020. While this represents a preliminary investigation into the potential impacts of telepharmacy on hospitalization rates, telepharmacy services may have a role in improving patient outcomes and cost savings.

Keywords: hospital admission rates; medication therapy management; outcomes; outpatient; telehealth; telepharmacy.

Fig. 1.

Study designed to analyze the impact of access to RxLive on the hospitalization rate in an outpatient population. The experimental architecture. The equivalent time period—a year before the RxLive provider enrollment—was 2019, which was compared with the 2020 period when the providers had access to RxLive enrollment.

Fig. 2.

Time-adjusted hospital admissions per patient by provider cohort. The hospitalization rates for the opt-in and opt-out groups in the 2019 and 2020 observation periods. The error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. There was a significantly higher rise in the hospitalization rate in the opt-out group from 2019 to 2020, as indicated by the asterisk (*).