New Jersey News: Medication Reconciliation

April 1, 2007 3:16 pm

Reprinted from the April 2007 New Jersey Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.

All hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission, formerly known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, are now required to reconcile each patient’s home medications with their hospital medications. Accurate and complete medication reconciliation can prevent numerous prescribing and administration errors. Unfortunately, many patients are too ill, injured, young, or disabled to actively participate in the medication reconciliation process, or they just do not know the name and details regarding their medications, and it is necessary for staff at the hospital to contact physicians and pharmacies in order to obtain accurate information. Many pharmacies are reluctant to provide information without direct authorization from the patient, but Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rules allow for the sharing of such information to another health care provider for the purposes of treatment of patients. If you are not familiar with the person who is calling for the information, ask for his or her name, title, and the name of the facility and call him or her back prior to providing the requested information.