Journal of Research and Development
Open Access

Abstract

Differences in Medicare Quality Measures among Nursing Homes after Pharmacogenetic Testing

Azhar Gohar

Aim: Medical providers increasingly refer patients for pharmacogenetic testing. However, there is a dearth of data regarding the benefits of testing residents in long-term care facilities. The researchers conducted a retrospective population-level analysis to assess the usefulness of pharmacogenetic testing in nursing homes.
Methods: A subset of publicly available data of nursing home quality measures was identified as being possibly associated with medication-related problems and pharmacogenetic variability. The overall quality measures for nursing homes that had initiated pharmacogenetic testing for residents via the YouScript® Personalized Prescribing System, pharmacogenetic testing (PGxT) were compared to measures from control nursing homes that had not initiated testing YouScript®, PGxT testing.
Results: There was a 5.4% reduction in self-reported, moderate-to-severe pain in the residents of the PGxT nursing home compared to control homes that did not initiate testing YouScript®, PGxT testing (p=0.001). There was also a tendency towards a reduction in falls resulting in major injury in the YouScript®, PGxT nursing homes when compared against the national average.
Conclusion: The present study demonstrated a small reduction in the percent of residents reporting moderateto- severe pain after results of pharmacogenetic testing were made available to the providers. Further studies will need to be done to assess if pharmacogenetic testing, using a Personalized Prescribing System, might reduce the use of potentially inappropriate medications and have a positive impact on the quality of life measures in the elderly.