Home Medicines Reviews: Extent of Uptake by High‐Risk Veterans

Abstract

ABSTRACTAimTo identify the characteristics of patients who receive home medicines reviews (HMRs).MethodA retrospective analysis was conducted of the Department of Veterans' Affairs administrative claims data. Veterans living in the community on 30 June 2009 were included if they had ≥ 1 medicines dispensed in the previous 12 months. The main outcome measure was the number of veterans who received an HMR. Log binomial regression analysis compared characteristics of HMR recipients and non‐recipients – age and gender; number of medicines, prescribers, dispensing pharmacies and hospitalisations in the previous year; and conditions where medicine use is potentially problematic, e.g. dementia.ResultsOf the 175 572 veterans included in the study, 6236 (3.6%) had received an HMR. The likelihood of having an HMR increased with age, number of medicines and number of GP visits. Women were 12% more likely to receive an HMR than men. Veterans who had received an HMR previously were 4 times more likely to have another HMR. Veterans with 1 to 4 hospitalisations were 10% more likely to receive an HMR than those who had not been hospitalised. The likelihood of having an HMR decreased with the number of dispensing pharmacies and specialist visits.ConclusionPatients who received HMRs had characteristics that placed them at risk of medication‐related problems. The uptake of HMRs was appropriate in our study population.