PHarmacist Avoidance or Reductions in Medical Costs in PALLiative Care Inpatient Services: PHARM-PALL.

Wilson, Celena; Ku, Jennifer · J Palliat Med · 2026

retrospective_cohort · Level III

Where this comes from

Abstract

Inpatient palliative care (PC) pharmacists have been shown to improve clinical and team outcomes. However, data on financial outcomes are still limited. To quantify the cost avoidance (CA) associated with a full-time inpatient PC pharmacist based on clinical interventions. A retrospective review was conducted at two community hospitals for PC pharmacist interventions from January 2024 through June 2024. The PC pharmacist performed 1015 interventions, 698 of which were accepted. The associated total CA was $1,336,717 with an annualized CA of $2.68 million. The average CA was $11,935 per PC pharmacist shift, $1,915 per accepted intervention, and $3,359 per patient (398 patients). The potential monetary CA-to-pharmacist salary ratio was 21:1. A PC pharmacist may help avoid significant health care costs, particularly in the areas of deprescribing, identifying untreated indications, and using PC expertise to make therapeutic recommendations.