Research from faculty members Joshua Thorpe, PhD, MPH and Carolyn Thorpe, PhD, MPH has been accepted for publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The title of their study is, “Dual healthcare system use and high risk prescribing in dementia patients: A national cohort study.” The research is a retrospective cohort study of over 70,000 Veterans with dementia aimed at evaluating the unintended risks of U.S. policy changes designed to increase Veterans access to care outside the Veterans Administration (VA). Thorpe and his team hypothesized that Veterans seeking prescriptions across unconnected systems of care (VA and Medicare) are at increased risk of unsafe prescribing. Studying a range of high risk medications in dementia patients, results showed that receiving prescriptions across multiple healthcare systems more than doubled the risk of exposure to unsafe medications compared to single-system users. Their results highlight the need for pharmacist-led medication coordination programs to mitigate risks of U.S. policies that facilitate dual system use. The Annals of Internal Medicine is the premier internal medicine journal. It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. Joshua Thorpe is an associate professor in the pharmacy and therapeutics department in the School of Pharmacy and a research scientist in the VA Pittsburgh Center of Excellence. Carolyn T. Thorpe, PhD, MPH, is assistant Professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and a Core Investigator in the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System’s Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP).
