Telephone follow-up by pharmacists after admission produces dramatic benefits

A study recently published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology has demonstrated unambiguous benefit from a pharmacist-led telephone follow‐up (TFU) intervention after hospital discharge, evaluating impact upon re-hospitalization patients affected by polypharmacy. Patients were matched to a control group and received the intervention in addition to routine integrated medicines management services.The intervention yielded impressive reductions in 30‐ and 90‐day readmission rates (9.9%, OR = 0.57; and 15.2% OR  = 0.53 respectively). For 30‐day readmissions the cost-benefit ration was 29.62, and 23.58 for 90‐day interval. It is patently clear that with a near 30:1 return on financial investment as well as clinical benefits, the advantages of this type of service are too great to ignore.