Partial economic evaluation of clinical pharmacy interventions on the prescription of direct oral anticoagulants in a teaching hospital

Background Potential inappropriate use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) increases the risk of thromboembolic and haemorrhagic events. Purpose To determine the net cost benefit of clinical pharmacy interventions on the prescription of DOACs. Method We constructed a decision tree model using a public payer perspective. The appropriateness of the prescription was assessed using the Medication Appropriateness Index. The theoretical risks were collected from the literature and the individual potential risks were calculated using the Nesbit risk assignment conducted by two independent clinical pharmacists. Different costs were included based on diagnosis-related group coding and data in the literature. A univariate sensitivity analysis was performed. Results Thirty-six of 75 patients had an inappropriate prescription of DOACs. The saved difference between avoided costs (7954(sic)) and annualised medication costs and pharmacist cost (4323(sic)) was 3631(sic) for 75 patients. Conclusions In addition to the enhancement of the quality of the prescription, our results indicate that pharmacist interventions provide a positive net cost benefit.