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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Appl Clin Inform 2023; 14(05): 923-931
DOI: 10.1055/a-2178-0197
Research Article

Medication Reconciliation during Transitions of Care Across Institutions: A Quantitative Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities

Alejandro Araya
1   D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth), Houston, Texas, United States
,
Logan R. Thornton
2   Division of Population Health and Evidence-Based Practice, Healthcare Transformation Initiatives, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Deukwoo Kwon
3   Division of Clinical and Translation Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Gayla M. Ferguson
4   Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Linda D. Highfield
4   Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, United States
5   Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, United States
6   Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Kevin O. Hwang
7   Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Holly M. Holmes
8   Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Elmer V. Bernstam
1   D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth), Houston, Texas, United States
7   Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States
› Author Affiliations Funding This work was supported by National Institutes of Health/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences grant number UL1 TR003167, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the Reynolds and Reynolds Foundation and the Cullen Trust for Healthcare.
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Abstract

Objective Medication discrepancies between clinical systems may pose a patient safety hazard. In this paper, we identify challenges and quantify medication discrepancies across transitions of care.

Methods We used structured clinical data and free-text hospital discharge summaries to compare active medications' lists at four time points: preadmission (outpatient), at-admission (inpatient), at-discharge (inpatient), and postdischarge (outpatient). Medication lists were normalized to RxNorm. RxNorm identifiers were further processed using the RxNav API to identify the ingredient. The specific drugs and ingredients from inpatient and outpatient medication lists were compared.

Results Using RxNorm drugs, the median percentage intersection when comparing active medication lists within the same electronic health record system ranged between 94.1 and 100% indicating substantial overlap. Similarly, when using RxNorm ingredients the median percentage intersection was 94.1 to 100%. In contrast, the median percentage intersection when comparing active medication lists across EHR systems was significantly lower (RxNorm drugs: 6.1–7.1%; RxNorm ingredients: 29.4–35.0%) indicating that the active medication lists were significantly less similar (p < 0.05).

Medication lists in the same EHR system are more similar to each other (fewer discrepancies) than medication lists in different EHR systems when comparing specific RxNorm drug and the more general RxNorm ingredients at transitions of care. Transitions of care that require interoperability between two EHR systems are associated with more discrepancies than transitions where medication changes are expected (e.g., at-admission vs. at-discharge). Challenges included lack of access to structured, standardized medication data across systems, and difficulty distinguishing medications from orderable supplies such as lancets and diabetic test strips.

Conclusion Despite the challenges to medication normalization, there are opportunities to identify and assist with medication reconciliation across transitions of care between institutions.

Keywords

medical records' systems - computerized - medication reconciliation - patient safety

Authors' Contributions

All authors participated in the problem formulation and experimental design. A.A. and E.V.B. wrote the initial manuscript. A.A. performed the data analysis. A.A., L.R.T., G.M.F., L.D.H., K.O.H., H.M.H., and E.V.B. revised the manuscript. E.V.B. provided the data. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript prior to submission.


Human Subjects Protection

This study has been approved by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (the UTHSC-H IRB) under protocol HSC-SBMI-13-0549.


Data Availability

The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to the fact that these data are individually identifiable and represent real-world patients.




Publication History

Received: 07 May 2023

Accepted: 06 August 2023

Accepted Manuscript online:
19 September 2023

Article published online:
22 November 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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