Broader Strategies Necessary To Counter Painkiller Over Prescribing, Researchers Say

(By – Shefali Luthra, Kaiser health News)

There’s a prescription drug abuse problem sweeping the United States, but fixing it will require a systematic change focused on how most health professionals prescribe drugs, rather than changing the practices of a few bad apples.

At least, that’s the recommendation put forth in a research letter published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers examined Medicare claims from 2013 to see which doctors prescribed opioids — a class of drug that includes OxyContin, morphine and codeine — and how many prescriptions they filled. Read more…

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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