OECD report highlights gigantic economic burden of safety and quality issues in long term care

The OECD has recently estimated that the total cost of avoidable admissions to hospitals from Long Term Care (LTC facilities) in 2016 was in the order of $USD18, equivalent to 2.5% of all spending on hospital inpatient care, and is set to increase by about 20% in the 10 years if not addressed proactively. Moreoever, research suggests that over half of the harm that occurs in LTC is preventable, and over 40% of admissions to hospitals from LTC are avoidable. Inappropriate medication, medication errors, polypharmacy, indiscriminate medication prescribing and other medication-related themes are recurrent in the report. The opportunities for multidisciplinary interventions, including those involving pharmacists, to impact positively on this issue, are self-evident, and it is difficult to fathom the reasons that these issues are left to continue without more interventions to reduce the human and economic impacts. See the report here.