By Lindsay Dymowski Constantino, President, Centennial Pharmacy Services, a long-term care-at-home pharmacy.
Seniors who choose to stay in their homes as they age — a practice known as “ageing in place” — gain a variety of benefits that can make their remaining years more enjoyable. They experience the comfort that comes from being in a familiar place, have an easier time keeping their family and community connections, and avoid the costs associated with shifting to assisted living situations.
However, ageing in place also has its challenges, with having reliable and convenient access to healthcare being one of the chief concerns. Age typically increases healthcare needs, while concurrently making it more difficult to access those needs. When factors such as chronic illness or age-related disabilities make long-term care a necessity, the burden increases.
Long-term care at home pharmacy addresses many of the healthcare issues that make ageing at home challenging. It fills the gaps that can keep patients from receiving effective healthcare while ageing in place. With long-term care at home pharmacy, patients get a solution that connects them with the expertise and oversight they need while also allowing them to tap into the benefits of living at home.
What does long-term care at home pharmacy accomplish
Long-term care at home pharmacy provides several valuable services to patients who are ageing in place. It assists with medication management to help patients avoid the dangerous side effects caused by drug interactions or incorrect dosages. It also provides patient education, which has become critical as medication regimens have become more complex.
Promoting medication adherence through collaboration with healthcare teams is another key benefit long-term care at home pharmacy offers. While physicians play a key role in diagnosing conditions and prescribing treatments, they aren’t typically in a good position to ensure patients adhere to their treatment. Pharmacists can step into that role by helping patients and their caregivers to understand the value of treatment and stay committed to it.
Long-term care at home pharmacy also has the potential to reduce healthcare costs for patients. The median cost of assisted living in the US is estimated to be more than $68,000 per year, and while costs in Europe vary by country, it’s not uncommon for averages to be more than $50,000 per year.
In addition to providing benefits to patients, long-term care at home pharmacy also contributes to a healthier healthcare system. Recent reports show hospitals are overwhelmed in both the US and Europe, with many experts describing the situation as a crisis. Long-term care at home has the potential to fix the crisis.
Shifting care to home settings reduces the pressure on hospitals and other healthcare facilities by not only providing an alternative outlet for care but also ensuring care regimens are properly followed. When patients have pharmacists supporting them, the likelihood of a hospital readmittance decreases.
What is needed to optimise long-term care at home pharmacy
The benefits long-term care pharmacy services provide to those ageing at home are clear. However, few policies have been put in place to support access to those services.
In the US, for example, specific Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement structures have yet to be implemented for long-term care at home pharmacy services. Yet, those services are capable of providing the same level of skilled pharmacy care to ageing at home patients as they would find in a facility with established reimbursement structures.
By providing dedicated funding through the expansion of government programmes, access to long-term care at home pharmacy can be expanded, and the quality of treatment available to those aging in place can be improved.
Those who prefer ageing at home to assisted living shouldn’t need to trade quality care for comfort and cost savings. Long-term care at home pharmacy allows them to experience both — maintaining a lifestyle they love while having access to the information and support they need to better manage their health. What is needed now are policies that will elevate long-term care at home pharmacy to the same level as other conventional healthcare options and ensure its accessibility.
Lindsay Dymowski Constantino is the President of Centennial Pharmacy Services, a long-term care-at-home pharmacy, and co-founder of LTC@Home Pharmacy Companies, which supports the pharmacy and broader healthcare industries by providing long-term care pharmacy services in the home setting. With over 15 years of experience in the pharmacy field and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Lindsay enables better health outcomes through patient-centric care and has a deep understanding of what drives successful pharmacies beyond medication dispensing.
