Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death worldwide and has an associated treatment cost of $9,800 per patient per year in the US.1-3 Within 5 years of hospital discharge for a COPD exacerbation, the rehospitalization risk is 44%, and the mortality rate is 55%.4 COPD affects more than 11 million Americans, and the disease prevalence among US veterans is 3-fold higher.5,6
Patients hospitalized for COPD have a 30-day readmission rate of 22.6%.7 Given the high patient burden, COPD was added to the Medicare Hospital Readmission Reductions Program in 2015, resulting in financial penalties for COPD readmissions within 30 days of hospital discharge.8 Ensuring timely access to follow-up care has been shown to significantly reduce risk for hospital readmissions.9 However, in a national review of Medicare claims, only 50% of patients readmitted to the hospital had a primary care provider (PCP) follow-up visit within 30 days of their hospital discharge.10 Despite the need to provide prompt patient follow-up during the transition from hospital to home, gaps within the health care system create barriers to providing timely postdischarge care.10-12 These gaps include breakdowns in practitioner and patient communication, lengthy time to follow-up, and incomplete medication reconciliation.13 To address this unmet need, clinics and hospitals require solutions that can be implemented quickly, using the resources of their current clinical models.
Pharmacists and registered nurses (RNs) within the US federal health care system are well positioned for involvement in the postdischarge care of high-risk patients with COPD. Ambulatory care practitioners within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system are integrated into patient aligned care teams (PACT). Each team consists of a PCP, pharmacist, RN, social worker, dietitian, licensed practical nurse, and medical scheduling support assistant.14 Each PACT team works together to provide patient education, chronic disease management, and medication optimization, and each team member contributes their unique training and expertise.
Interprofessional care is considered an integral method to improve health outcomes through effective teamwork and communication.15 Although interprofessional interventions are cited extensively in the literature highlighting medicine and nursing, a gap exists in the exploration of pharmacist contributions within interprofessional teams.16 The incorporation of clinical pharmacists in the literature is especially limited when considering transitions of care and the patient medical home.17 Given the critical and collaborative role pharmacists play within the PACT medical home, the COPD CARE (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Coordinated Access to Reduce Exacerbations) service provides an opportunity to leverage pharmacists as prescribers with a scope of practice who coordinate transitions of care for patients with COPD.18 The service was designed to be collaborative within the PACT model and with the intent of reducing 30-day readmissions to the hospital or emergency department (ED) due to a COPD exacerbation.
This evaluation involved the identifying patients recently hospitalized for COPD; clinic follow-up, coordinated by a clinical pharmacist and nurse, within 30 days of hospital or ED discharge; the use of a COPD action plan; and timely triage of patients at high risk for COPD reexacerbation or with comorbid symptoms to PCPs. The COPD CARE service, leveraged the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model for transitions of care after COPD exacerbations. The PCMH is a primary care model focused on the following functions: (1) comprehensive care; (2) patient-centered care; (3) coordinated care; (4) accessible service; and (5) quality and safety.19
