FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) is associated with Lower Hospital Readmission Rates for Enterocolitis Patients based on Real World Evidence Study of Medicare Claims Data

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In firvanq, Enterocolitis

By: Sara Riascos  Feb. 15, 2022

Background:

Enterocolitis is frequently associated with hospital readmission. Readmission is a hospital quality measure that reflects dimensions of quality of inpatient care and also impacts overall programs by payors such as CMS’s Star Rating Program, HRRP and Value-Based Purchasing. FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) is a glycopeptide antibacterial for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and enterocolitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Studies have shown that a high percentage of patients encounter success faster than other brands. Dexur’s analysis of Real-World Evidence based on Medicare Claims data showed that the use of FIRVANQ (vancomycin HCl) within 7 days of hospitalization was associated with lower hospital readmission rates for enterocolitis Patients. Reduction in readmission rates helps hospitals improve their outcomes for various cost and quality programs. Dexur is an approved entity to perform Medicare claims data analysis, which it uses to perform quality outcomes analysis. Dexur has published several papers with Harvard Medical School on quality outcomes related topics. Dexur’s analysis of Drugs and their impact on quality outcomes, such as readmissions and mortality, are used by Hospitals, IDNs, and ACOs to implement best practices and manage Real World Evidence based risk factors.

Methods:

We conducted a retrospective study using Dexur’s analysis of Real-World Evidence from Medicare Claims data, for hospitalizations between January 2019 to September 2019. Our methodology criteria was as follows:

Inclusion Criteria: Selected Medical Hospitalizations with Primary Diagnosis with enterocolitis codes (Listed in table below)

1. Stratified Selected population into cohorts

   1. Enterocolitis patients who dispensed FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) within 7 Days of Hospitalization using Part D drugs claims database

   2. Enterocolitis patients who did not dispense FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) within 7 Days of Hospitalization

2. 30 Day readmission rates were analyzed for both population cohorts

Results:

Overall, FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) was associated with lower hospital readmission rates for all Primary ICD Diagnosis Codes examined. For patients whose primary ICD Diagnosis was “Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, not specified as recurrent” (A0472) and whenFIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) was used within 7 days of hospitalization, the readmission rate was 21.56% compared to the cohort whereFIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) was not used, whose readmission rate was 26.15%. The readmission odds ratio for these cohorts was 0.78. The use of FIRVANQ (vancomycin HCl)was associated with a 22% lower readmission rate when used within 7 days of hospitalization. The full list of studied ICD codes, readmission rates, odds ratios, confidence intervals, and percentage reduction in readmission with FIRVANQ (vancomycin HCl) is shown below.

Primary ICD Diagnosis Code	Primary ICD Diagnosis Code Description	Total Hospitalizations without FIRVANQ	Readmission without FIRVANQ	Readmission Rate without FIRVANQ	Total Hospitalizations with FIRVANQ	Readmission with FIRVANQ	Readmission Rate with FIRVANQ	Readmission Odds Ratio	Reduction in Readmission with FIRVANQ (%)	Confidence Interval (-)	Confidence Intervals (+)
A0472	Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, not specified as recurrent	20,799

Dexur also leveraged Medicare claims data to understand what percentage of patients hospitalized with enterocolitis at major Hospitals were not prescribed FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) within 7 days of discharge.

ICD CODE	Hospital	Hospitalizations with enterocolitis	% of Hospitalizations without FIRVANQ
A0472	Martin Medical Center, STUART, FL, 34994	61	At Least 83.61%
	AdventHealth Orlando, ORLANDO, FL, 32803	53	At Least 81.13%
	Palos Health, PALOS HEIGHTS, IL, 60463	50	At Least 80.00%

If figures are shared with “At Least” - this implies that the drug utilization within 7 days post hospitalization is less than 11.

Conclusions:

According to analysis of Real-World Evidence of Medicare Claims data, for hospitalizations between January 2019 to September 2019, the use of FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) within 7 days of hospitalization can lead to substantial reductions in hospital readmission rates of enterocolitis patients. This analysis shows that a significant number of Patients are not dispensed FIRVANQ(vancomycin HCl) after enterocolitis hospitalizations at major US Hospitals.