How often must Rx of LTC patient be reviewed by a pharmacist?

• A. Every 60 days
• B. Every 90 days
• C. Every 7 days
• D. Every 30 days

Answer: (D)

Regular pharmacist reviews are essential in long-term care because residents often take many medications and their health can change quickly. A monthly medication regimen review provides a consistent checkpoint to catch drug-related problems, reconcile meds after admissions or new prescriptions, and adjust therapy promptly to maintain safety and effectiveness.

Reviewing on a 30-day cycle aligns with the typical monthly care rhythm in LTC facilities, enabling timely detection of issues like duplications, interactions, dosing problems, or needs for deprescribing. If reviews were done only every couple of months, problems could go unnoticed and patient risk would rise. Conversely, checking every week would be unnecessarily frequent for routine cases and isn’t required for stable regimens.

There can be exceptions—more frequent review may occur after hospital discharge, when a regimen changes, or for high-risk patients—but the standard cadence is monthly, i.e., every 30 days.