755. Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy Program Evaluation within a Large Veterans Affairs Healthcare System

BACKGROUND: Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) allows safe delivery of IV antibiotics in ambulatory settings to facilitate hospital discharge. Within the Veterans Affairs (VA) system, OPAT programs face the unique challenges of large geographic coverage areas and referrals for veterans from non-VA hospitals. METHODS: Patients enrolled in the VA North Texas Health Care System OPAT program during fiscal years 2016 to 2018 had data collected on demographics, comorbidities, OPAT indications, antimicrobials used, pharmacist interventions, and complications during therapy. Data were collected from retrospective chart review as a quality improvement project. All enrolled OPAT patients required either an inpatient infectious disease (ID) consult or, for patients from non-VA facilities, required medical records review and telephone consultation with approval by a VA ID clinician. A third-party infusion company provided all medications and line care. Weekly laboratory monitoring and follow-up telephone visits were conducted by ID-trained pharmacists. RESULTS: During the evaluation period, 485 unique OPAT encounters (425 patients) were completed, with 164 patients (33%) directly admitted to OPAT upon referral from non-VA hospitals. Most common OPAT indications were osteomyelitis/diabetic foot infections (40.4%), bacteremia (17.3%), prosthetic joint infections/septic arthritis (12.4%), and urinary/intrabdominal infections (11.7%). Following standardization of pharmacist documentation, the volume and consistency of documented notes and interventions increased. Readmission rates while on therapy were similar, ranging from 13.4% to 13.7% each year. Patient demographics and OPAT outcomes demonstrated steady growth in the program (Table 1) with low rates of complications on therapy (Table 2). The program served patients in 35 counties and 158 zip codes across a broad geographic region in North Texas and southern Oklahoma (Figure 1). The most commonly used antibiotics are shown in Figure 2. CONCLUSION: Our program has demonstrated the ability to safely and effectively provide OPAT across a large geographic region from a central location. ID-trained clinical pharmacists are critical to the care coordination and safety monitoring of OPAT in this unique setting. [Image: see text] [Image: see text] [Image: see text] [Image: see text] DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.