Partnering to Improve Care for Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) affects 28.6 million Americans and patients with AUD are over 1.5 times more likely to be re-admitted to the hospital within 30 days with alcohol related complications. Our goal was to use an interdisciplinary approach to increase the rate of AUD medication prescriptions on discharge by 20% in 90 days. We utilized a workflow within inpatient pharmacy to identify patients with severe AUD, screen for medication eligibility, and contact the primary medical team to start treatment and refer patient to Social Work for other resources. In 90 days, we saw a 200% improvement in discharge prescription rate using pharmacy-guided discharge planning (23.5% vs. 70.7%). Additionally, there was a 17% improvement in 30-day readmission rate (11.8% vs 9.8%). Our estimated savings by reduced readmission rates extrapolates to a savings of $41,376 per year.