A Pharmacist-Led Intervention to Increase Inhaler Access and Reduce Hospital Readmissions (PILLAR)

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Asthma; COPD

Treatments: Other: Benefits investigation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03927820

PILLAR

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to assess the impact of pharmacist-led benefits investigations and application of clinical practice guidelines on patient access to inhalers and time to hospital readmission or Emergency Department (ED) visit.

Enrollment: 914 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patient admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) (excluding surgery services)
• on a long acting inhaler or prescribed a long acting inhaler during admission.

Exclusion criteria

• Diagnosis of cystic fibrosis
• Diagnosis of graft versus host disease (GVHD)
• no medication insurance
• discharge to any post-acute care facility or inpatient hospice
• death during hospitalization

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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914 participants in 2 patient groups

Pharmacist Intervention

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients randomized to the intervention arm received usual care plus inhaler review by study pharmacist who made recommendations for inhaler changes based on clinical guideline and insurance formulary compliance. Recommendations were sent to the patient's team for final approval prior to discharge.

Treatment:

Other: Benefits investigation

Usual Care

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients randomized to the usual care arm received care by the primary team which includes an inpatient pharmacist who does not have access to benefits investigation technology. The study pharmacist was not involved to review inhalers for optimization prior to discharge.