Analysis of Cost Implications and Potential Adverse Events Prevented by Interventions of an Internal Medicine Pharmacist

Abstract

Specific Aims: Duties conducted by clinical pharmacists aid patients in side effect prevention and have numerous cost benefits for health systems. A systematic manner of quantifying these tasks accomplished would adequately sum and describe cost-savings and preventions of adverse events within the hospital setting. The purpose of this study is to perform a cost benefit analysis and analyze cost implications and potential adverse drug events prevented through the interventions conducted by an internal medicine pharmacist. Methods: This study utilized a retrospective cohort design using data extracted from patients’ charts. The data was retrieved from patient charts at Tucson Medical Center using the EPIC computer system during a 3-month time span. Pharmacists on the adult medicine unit were educated on how to separately document and describe each type of clinical intervention with the option of selecting from twenty headings and four subheadings created by an EPIC system specialist. The rates of adverse effects and cost savings from literature evaluation were applied to each correlating intervention and medication as documented by the pharmacist. Main Results: These adult medicine pharmacists cumulatively made a total of 1182 interventions during a three-month time period. A total cost benefit of greater than $150,000 was identified from the analysis with consideration of pharmacist average salary over a 3-month period. This study estimated 150 adverse effects were prevented with the various tasks accomplished by clinical pharmacists. Conclusions: Decentralized clinical pharmacists on the adult medical unit promote patient safety and reduce overall cost through the avoidance of potential adverse drug events and drug optimization.