WEDNESDAY, June 13, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Ambulatory medication reconciliation is associated with lower risk of a composite primary outcome of combined frequency of emergency department visits and hospitalizations over six months, according to a study published online June 11 in Diabetes Care.
Alexander Turchin, M.D., from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort analysis involving adults taking at least one diabetes medication treated in primary care practices. The correlation between the fraction of outpatient diabetes medications reconciled over a six-month period and the composite primary outcome over the subsequent six months was assessed.
The researchers found that 67.3, 10.6, and 22.1 percent of the 261,765 reconciliation assessment periods contributed by 31,689 patients had some, all, or none of the diabetes medications reconciled, respectively. Per six months, patients with all, some, or no diabetes medications reconciled had 0.354, 0.377, and 0.384 primary outcome events, respectively (P < 0.0001). Having some or all versus no diabetes medications reconciled correlated with reduced risk of the primary outcome in multivariable analysis adjusted for demographics and comorbidities (rate ratios, 0.94 and 0.92, respectively). There was a correlation for introduction of feedback to individual providers with significantly elevated odds of all diabetes medications being reconciled (odds ratio, 2.634).
"A higher fraction of reconciled outpatient diabetes medications was associated with a lower frequency of emergency department visits and hospitalizations," the authors write. "Individual performance feedback could help to achieve more comprehensive medication reconciliation."
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