Does Medicare Reimburse for “Pharmectomies?"

Living in Florida, we see large number of elderly, chronically-ill patients with multiple medical problems.

These patients have multiple providers – primary provider, ED provider, nursing home provider, hospitalists, consultants, etc.

This leads to multiple treatments and prescriptions that have endless interactions and reactions.

After the medication reconciliation is completed on the Electronic Health Record (EHR), the process does not simplify.

So we have changed our process at my ED. Now if your medication bag weighs more the 5 lbs., we admit that patient to the hospital for a “Pharmectomy” - we eliminate all the medicines and start over. 


We are currently searching for a “surgical code” for this procedure as the reimbursement might be higher.