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ObjectiveTo test a multidisciplinary approach to reduce heart failure (HF) readmissions that tailors the intensity of care transition intervention to the risk of the patient using a suite of electronic medical record (EMR)-enabled programmes.MethodsA prospective controlled before and after study of adult inpatients admitted with HF and two concurrent control conditions (acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and pneumonia (PNA)) was performed between 1 December 2008 and 1 December 2010 at a large urban public teaching hospital. An EMR-based software platform stratified all patients admitted with HF on a daily basis by their 30-day readmission risk using a published electronic predictive model. Patients at highest risk received an intensive set of evidence-based interventions designed to reduce readmission using existing resources. The main outcome measure was readmission for any cause and to any hospital within 30 days of discharge.ResultsThere were 834 HF admissions in the pre-intervention period and 913 in the post-intervention period. The unadjusted readmission rate declined from 26.2% in the pre-intervention period to 21.2% in the post-intervention period (p=0.01), a decline that persisted in adjusted analyses (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.73; 95% CI 0.58 to 0.93, p=0.01). In contrast, there was no significant change in the unadjusted and adjusted readmission rates for PNA and AMI over the same period. There were 45 fewer readmissions with 913 patients enrolled and 228 patients receiving intervention, resulting in a number needed to treat (NNT) ratio of 20.ConclusionsAn EMR-enabled strategy that targeted scarce care transition resources to high-risk HF patients significantly reduced the risk-adjusted odds of readmission.

Objective To design and investigate a pharmacist-run intervention using low health literacy flashcards and a smartphone-activated quick response (QR) barcoded educational flashcard video to increase medication adherence and disease state understanding. Design Prospective, matched, quasi-experimental design. Setting County health system in Dallas, Texas. Participants Sixty-eight primary care patients prescribed targeted heart failure, hypertension, and diabetes medications Intervention Low health literacy medication and disease specific flashcards, which were also available as QR-coded online videos, were designed for the intervention patients. The following validated health literacy tools were conducted: Newest Vital Sign (NVS), Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy Medicine–Short Form, and Short Assessment of Health Literacy–50. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was the difference in medication adherence at 180 days after pharmacist intervention compared with the control group, who were matched on the basis of comorbid conditions, targeted medications, and medication class. Medication adherence was measured using a modified Pharmacy Quality Alliance proportion of days covered (PDC) calculation. Secondary outcomes included 90-day PDC, improvement of greater than 25% in baseline PDC, and final PDC greater than 80%. Linear regression was performed to evaluate the effect of potential confounders on the primary outcome. Results Of the 34 patients receiving the intervention, a majority of patients scored a high possibility of limited health literacy on the NVS tool (91.2%). The medication with the least adherence at baseline was metformin, followed by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta blockers. At 180 days after intervention, patients in the intervention group had higher PDCs compared with their matched controls (71% vs. 44%; P = 0.0069). Conclusion The use of flashcards and QR-coded prescription bottles for medication and disease state education is an innovative way of improving adherence to diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure medications in a low-health literacy patient population.

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Purpose: This study evaluated the comparative effectiveness of different pharmacist visit types on reducing readmission rates. Method: A single-center, retrospective cohort study was conducted from January 2015 to July 2017. Patients were 18 years or older with an index heart failure (HF) exacerbation admission. Upon hospital discharge, patients were seen in clinic by a clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) with collaborative practice agreement (CPA) (High Intensity Bundle), medication therapy management (MTM) pharmacist without CPA (Low Intensity Bundle), or no pharmacist (Standard of Care [SOC]). The primary outcome was 30-day all-cause readmission rate. Secondary outcomes included rate of 30-day HF readmissions and average number of days until readmission in those who were readmitted. Results: Totally, 98 patients were included in the final analysis (35 High Intensity Bundle, 28 Low Intensity Bundle, and 35 SOC). The primary outcome of all-cause readmissions was lower in both the pharmacist groups compared with SOC (CPS 8.6% [3/35] vs SOC 25.7% [9/35], P = 0.046 and MTM 7.1% [2/28] vs SOC 25.7% [9/35], P = 0.057). Incremental differences were seen between visit types for the secondary outcome of 30-day HF readmissions (CPS 2.9% vs MTM 7.1% vs SOC 17.1%, P = 0.039). The average number of days until readmission was longer in the CPS versus the MTM and SOC (26.7 days vs 12.5 days vs 14.1 days, respectively). Conclusion: Post-hospital discharge pharmacist visits were associated with lower 30-day all-cause readmission. In particular, clinic visits with a Higher Intensity Bundle may be more effective in reducing HF readmissions. These exploratory findings warrant further investigation.