Impact of Ambulatory Transplant Pharmacy Services on Outcomes and Readmissions in Adult Abdominal Transplant Recipients
1Northeastern University, Boston, MA
2Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
Meeting: 2018 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: 583
Keywords: Kidney transplantation, Liver transplantation
Session Information
Session Name: Concurrent Session: Quality Assurance Process Improvement
Session Type: Concurrent Session
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Session Time: 4:30pm-6:00pm
Presentation Time: 5:30pm-5:42pm
Location: Room 2AB
Over the past two decades, the role of transplant pharmacists (Txp Rx) has expanded following revised guidance from UNOS and CMS. There is little data published detailing the expanded role of the Txp Rx in the ambulatory setting. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the impact of newly expanded ambulatory Txp Rx services on readmissions and patient outcomes.
Methods: A single center retrospective review of all adult kidney, liver, and pancreatic transplant recipients transplanted between April 2015 and October 2016 was performed. This group was compared to a historical control group which included patients transplanted between August 2013 and December 2014. Patients included in the study group were scheduled to see a pharmacist at weeks 1 and 2 as well as months 2,3,6 and 12 post-transplant. The primary endpoint was 90-day all cause readmission. Secondary endpoints included organ-specific patient and graft survival at 1 year, rejection at 1 year and readmission rates classified by indication.
Results: A total of 124 patients included in the Txp Rx study group were compared to 129 patients in the historical control. Baseline characteristics were similar.
The rate of readmissions at 90 days after transplant was similar between the groups (60% Txp Rx group vs 58% historical control). 
Conclusion: Expansion of Txp Rx services into the ambulatory clinic did not appear to decrease all-cause 90-day readmission rates. Future analysis will adjust for confounders on readmission rates and determine if the number of pharmacy follow-up visits has an impact. We also plan to evaluate patient satisfaction with Txp Rx services in the clinic as well as evaluate the impact of Txp Rx services on tacrolimus variability and non-adherence.
CITATION INFORMATION: Joyal K., Rogers C., Cote M., Pavlakis M., Evenson A., Patwardhan V., Richards K. Impact of Ambulatory Transplant Pharmacy Services on Outcomes and Readmissions in Adult Abdominal Transplant Recipients Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Joyal K, Rogers C, Cote M, Pavlakis M, Evenson A, Patwardhan V, Richards K. Impact of Ambulatory Transplant Pharmacy Services on Outcomes and Readmissions in Adult Abdominal Transplant Recipients [abstract]. https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/impact-of-ambulatory-transplant-pharmacy-services-on-outcomes-and-readmissions-in-adult-abdominal-transplant-recipients/. Accessed May 9, 2025.« Back to 2018 American Transplant Congress