HJ0139eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HJ0139 Engrossed LRB099 21233 GRL 46700 r

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, A gap exists in Illinois in communication between all healthcare providers with regards to a patient's transition in care within and between healthcare practice settings, including but not limited to community, health-system, and long-term care; and

WHEREAS, When medications are discontinued, added, changed, or replaced by a prescriber, the notification of the change is inconsistently communicated to the next healthcare provider responsible for that patient's care, including but not limited to the primary care physician, pharmacist, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant; and

WHEREAS, This inconsistency in communication, as the patient transitions in the healthcare continuum, may cause medication duplications, adverse reactions, and subtherapeutic or supratherapeutic dosing of medications for the treatment of the patient's disease and healthcare conditions; these situations may expose the patient to increased risks and costs; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois maintains very little data on this issue; the only available studies are extremely limited in scope and pertain only to high-risk medications within a connected healthcare system; and

WHEREAS, Each day in Illinois, thousands of medication discontinuations, additions, and modifications occur; and

WHEREAS, When a prescriber makes any medication change, the medication change should be communicated to all other healthcare providers and practitioners involved in other healthcare settings who use different electronic health records; and

WHEREAS, Medication reconciliation and effective communication between healthcare providers improves patient outcomes and allows pharmacists to assure that patients only receive current medications for the treatment of their disease and health conditions; and

WHEREAS, Many patients have limited knowledge of the exact names or doses of all of their medications and depend on the medication education they receive from their pharmacist; and

WHEREAS, Mechanisms to enable the transmission of "discontinue", "cancel", or "stop" orders through interoperability of healthcare systems are being developed by the relevant stakeholders; and

WHEREAS, Patients with chronic diseases often have frequent changes to their medication regimens, which are not consistently communicated to pharmacies and each has the potential to cause misutilization of medications; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the Department of Public Health to undertake a study coordinating with the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy (Chicago and Rockford campuses), the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy, and the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy to determine the appropriateness of promoting and encouraging interprofessional communication between healthcare providers, be they physicians, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, or pharmacists to facilitate more effective methods for transitioning care of a patient between the various healthcare settings or managing their medication regimens; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Public Health to examine and recommend solutions for a mechanism or process for electronically-prescribed prescription orders to electronically transmit "discontinuation", "cancel", or "stop" notifications to the pharmacy upon discontinuation or cancellation of the order; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Public Health to examine the overall benefits of mandated pharmacist-led medication reconciliation upon patient entrance into a new healthcare setting and patient discharge education upon transition to a new healthcare setting, follow-up communication with patients by healthcare providers after a specified period of time after transitioning, electronic communication to pharmacies whenever a change in medication occurs, and use of the primary care provider as a nexus for communication between healthcare providers, including pharmacists, to assure a centralized medication list is maintained for each patient; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Public Health to complete its study and submit its findings to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Secretary of Public Health by January 1, 2017.