Purpose: Results of a study evaluating quality-of-care, financial, and patient satisfaction outcomes of pharmacist-conducted telehealth visits for diabetes management and warfarin monitoring are reported.
Methods: A retrospective pre-post study was conducted to determine the impact of an electronic visit (e-visit) program targeting 2 groups of outpatients: adults with uncontrolled diabetes and warfarin-treated adults performing patient self-testing (PST) for monitoring of International Normalized Ratio (INR) values.
Results: A total of 36 patients participated in the e-visit program during the 2-year study period. Among warfarin-treated patients, the percentage of INR values in the desired range increased relative to preenrollment values (from 62.5% to 72.7%, p = 0.07), and the frequency of extreme INR values (values of <1.5 or >5.0) decreased (from 4.8% to 0.01%, p = 0.01); the margin per patient was $300 during the first year and $191 annually thereafter. In the diabetes group, a decrease from baseline in glycosylated hemoglobin values of 3.4 percentage points was observed at 5.7 months after enrollment (p < 0.001), with significant improvements in frequencies of statin use, aspirin use, and blood pressure control; the margin was $100 per patient. The overall median patient satisfaction survey score was 39 of 40.
Conclusion: An online e-visit model for warfarin monitoring was an efficient, safe, and cost-effective method for implementing PST. Pharmacist-led management of diabetes through e-visits, often in combination with in-person visits, generated revenue while significantly improving clinical outcomes.
Keywords: anticoagulation; diabetes; electronic visits; patient self-testing; pharmacist; telemedicine; warfarin.
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