overprescribing

About a decade ago, the FDA started requiring drugmakers to add black box warnings to labels and prescribing information for Soroquel and other antipsychotic drugs. The agency made the change after the medications were linked to an increased risk of death

'Dear Doctor' Letters Use Peer Pressure, Government Warning To Stop Overprescribing

1:16pm August 07, 2018

by Ina Jaffe

Researchers found that a simple letter to doctors, focusing on their high prescribing rates, reduced their tendency to give risky antipsychotic drugs to their patients, including some with dementia.

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Ashley Copeland (right) talks to her mom Sue Iverson in the Swedish Medical Center emergency department, near Denver. Copeland got a nerve-blocking anesthetic instead of opioids to ease her severe headache. At discharge she was advised to use over-the-cou

These 10 ERs Sharply Reduced Opioid Use And Still Eased Pain

11:18am February 23, 2018

by John Daley

Collaboration was key for the 10 emergency rooms that cut opioid prescriptions by 36 percent. Doctors say they now use less addictive medicines to manage pain and have shifted patients' expectations.

Doctors often prescribe more opioid painkillers than necessary following surgery, for a variety of reasons.

Questioning A Doctor's Prescription For A Sore Knee: 90 Percocets

12:50pm November 22, 2017

by Michelle Andrews

Following minor surgery, a Kaiser Health News columnist sees up close how easily doctors can prescribe opioid pain pills, and how such prescribing helps fuel the epidemic of opioid addiction.

The HHS inspector general found that some 22,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries seem to be doctor shopping for opioids — obtaining large amounts prescribed by four or more doctors and filled at four or more pharmacies.

'Extreme' Opioid Use And Doctor Shopping Still Plague Medicare

11:10am July 13, 2017

by Charles Ornstein

One-third of all Medicare recipients were prescribed opioids last year, the HHS inspector general says, with more than half a million getting high doses for at least three months.

In a new report, the CDC says U.S. doctors are prescribing fewer opioids than they were in 2010, but that overall rates remain high.

Health & Safety

Opioid Prescriptions Falling But Remain Too High, CDC Says

10:14pm July 06, 2017

by Rob Stein

U.S. doctors are prescribing opioid painkillers less often and at lower doses, but at rates that are three times higher than their European counterparts, the CDC says.

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Dr. Joel Funari performs some 300 tooth extractions annually at his private practice in Devon, Pa.. He's part of a group of dentists reassessing opioid prescribing guidelines in the state.

Dentists Work To Ease Patients' Pain With Fewer Opioids

6:37am February 26, 2017

by Elana Gordon

After minor surgeries, many dentists used to reflexively prescribe quick-acting opioids to relieve a patient's pain. Now they're learning to counsel patients about better, less addictive alternatives.

In Cheyenne, Wyo., emergency room patients who show up more than a few times a month requesting pain pills will now be told no, except in dire emergencies. A similar program at a New Mexico hospital cut ER visits by 5 percent annually, and saved $500,000.

Emergency Rooms Crack Down On Abusers Of Pain Pills

2:14pm June 05, 2015

by Miles Bryan

Hospitals in some states have begun tracking the names of patients who show up repeatedly seeking opioids. Denying these patients pills saves hospitals money, but some doctors question the ethics.

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About 1 in 3 patients with dementia who live in nursing homes are being sedated with antipsychotic drugs, the GAO says. Outside nursing homes, about 1 in 7 dementia patients are getting the risky drugs.

GAO Report Urges Fewer Antipsychotic Drugs For Dementia Patients

1:16am March 03, 2015

by Ina Jaffe

Strong drugs are rarely warranted to control the behavior of dementia patients, specialists say. But antipsychotic medicine is being overprescribed, and not just among residents of nursing homes.

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