Home Medicine Reviews: Recent changes and potential implications

Abstract

Earlier this year, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia announced the restructure of the Home Medicine Review (HMR) program. The new funding provision of this program requires a minimum two-year interval between each review conducted for a specific patient. Significant debate has arisen about the potential implications this will have on all stakeholders, particularly consumers, and on the incidence of medication errors and use of health care resources. The Pharmacy guild has announced that the changes will "ensure the ongoing viability" of the program and as part of this they will also work to identify patients who will most benefit from HMR services.1 This RESEARCH ROUNDup provides a brief overview of the current evidence of the benefits and limitations of HMRs and discusses cohorts of patients who might be targeted to maximise HMR benefits.