Critics of how prescription painkillers are administered in the U.S. are calling on health officials to phase out hospital procedures and questionnaires used to manage pain. They say the current system inadvertently encourages the overprescribing of addictive drugs like Vicodin …
In response to rising chronic pain claims, Travelers announced the development of a new patent-pending predictive model designed to identify claims and workers most at risk. The company, which developed the Early Severity Predictor (ESP) program, manages more than 250,000 …
The amount of opioids prescribed to injured Ohio workers has fallen significantly since the state’s insurance fund for injured workers created a pharmacy management program amid concerns about painkiller usage. Fewer than 4,800 workers have been deemed opiate-dependent after exceeding …
Rising drug prices contributed to a 2.2 percent growth in pharmacy spending for American workers’ compensation payers in 2015, according to a new report released by Express Scripts. Effective management programs helped lower injured workers’ drug utilization by 2.6 percent …
Most doctors – 99 percent – are prescribing highly addictive opioid medicines for longer than the three-day period recommended, according to a national survey. Twenty-three percent prescribe at least a month’s worth of opioids. Also, according to the survey by …
To contain a surge in drug-related deaths in the U.S., state and local governments are pouring money into programs to make an overdose antidote more widely available even as prices rise — creating a growth opportunity for manufacturers. Naloxone, approved …
Two Florida laws, enacted to combat prescription drug abuse and misuse in that state, led to a small but significant decrease in the amount of opioids prescribed the first year the laws were in place, a new study by Johns …
Opioid painkiller addiction and accidental overdoses have become far too common across the United States. To try to identify who is most at risk, Mayo Clinic researchers studied how many patients prescribed an opioid painkiller for the first time progressed …
Overdose deaths involving prescription opioid painkillers in New York State increased from 2003 through 2012, according to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released by CDC this month. Vital statistics and Medicaid claims reveal that opioid overdose death rates were …
Usability barriers dampen participation yet nearly three-quarters who use state databases report prescribing fewer opioids, according to a new survey. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that physicians report relatively high awareness of state databases …