Effectiveness Assessment of Patient-Centered Measures of Chronic Disease Management during COVID-19 Epidemic

Abstract

Purpose The disruption of routine treatment, including the interruption of medication, might be deteriorating chronic conditions during disasters and COVID-19 epidemic. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of patient-centered measures of patients with chronic diseases during COVID-19 epidemic.

Method This was a cross-sectional study to analyze the effectiveness of chronic disease prescriptions issued by hospital-based clinicians,  prescription refilling rate, utilization rate of reservation for picking-up medicine, and the rate of returning to hospital for refilling prescription as scheduled at a tertiary care hospital in Taiwan by using chi-square test. The enrolled outpatients were received managed care from January to June of 2019 and the period of 2020. The SAS (v8.2) statistical software was used for analysis. 

Results The proportion of chronic disease prescriptions out of outpatient visits increased to 66.0% dramatically, and prescription refilling rate decreased to 6%. Prescription refilling rate by reservation increased to 10.5% and the users under 40 years old too. Increased rate of reservations of picking-up medicine were psychiatry, gastroenterology, gynecology and rheumatology, no different of residence, but the number of non-Kaohsiung residents increased 2.67 times.

Discussion Adopted patient-centered measures for preparedness go out with medication were effective. Whether the patients who did not return to the hospital to refill prescriptions eventually went to community pharmacy as scheduled is worthy of further study. National Health Insurance Administration should add the prescription refilling records in health insurance cards for further evaluating medicine adherence when prescriptions are revised.

References

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Keywords: refillable prescriptions, chronic illnesses; interruption of medication; COVID-19; patient-centered care

Address: Pharmacy Department, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Taiwan

Emal: 1008208kmtth@gmail.com

Acknowledgement: We thank all members of the COVID-19 Response Team of Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital. Without implementing and supervising all measures by all pharmacy staff, this article could not be published. None of the staff members mentioned from those departments received any compensation for their contributions. We also express gratitude to all trustees of the Board of Kaohsiung Medical University Trustees for supporting us with a lot of resource to establish a healthy and safe workplace for healthcare workers.