Health News
Almost 15,000 Americans die a year from prescription pain medication, a statistic that has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling the problem "an epidemic." But while the issue has been substantiated by troubling facts ? in Kentucky, more people die from prescription drug overdoses than car accidents ? the American Pain Foundation says it's overblown. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
- Ky. Ranks 8th In The Number Of High-prescribing Medicare Physicians For Powerful Narcotic Painkillers And Stimulants
Kentucky ranks eighth in Medicare physicians who are considered "high prescribers" of Schedule 2 medications, drugs that have the highest potential for abuse like oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine and Ritalin, according to an analysis of Medicare data...
- New Rule Allows Medicare To Drop Doctors For Irresponsible Prescribing
Medicare physicians who prescribe drugs in abusive ways can now be expelled by the federal government, Charles Ornstein reports for ProPublica. This increased oversight of Medicare Part D prescribers could help decrease the availability of prescription...
- Fda Wants To Limit Number Of Hydrocodone Refills Available Without Another Doctor Visit; Approves Pure Version Of Drug
"The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended tighter controls on how doctors prescribe the most commonly used narcotic painkillers, changes that are expected to take place as early as next year," Barry Meier reports for The New York Times....
- Prescription Drugs Killing More Women Than Ever; Kentucky Ties For Fifth For Its High Percentage Of Deaths
The ongoing national epidemic of addiction to prescription painkillers is spreading more quickly among women, and it is killing more women than ever before. Kentucky ties Utah for the fifth highest percentage of female deaths due to prescription-drug...
- Prescription Drug Abuse Is An Epidemic Nationwide And In Ky.
Prescription pain medicine overdoses now kill more people in the U.S. than heroin and cocaine combined, with 40 Americans dying every day from painkiller abuse. "This stems from a few irresponsible doctors," said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers...
Health News
Foundation funded by drug companies calls pill abuse overblown
Almost 15,000 Americans die a year from prescription pain medication, a statistic that has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling the problem "an epidemic." But while the issue has been substantiated by troubling facts ? in Kentucky, more people die from prescription drug overdoses than car accidents ? the American Pain Foundation says it's overblown. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)ProPublica found that "The foundation collected nearly 90 percent of its $5 million in funding last year from the drug and medical-device industry," Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber report for the nonprofit, independent investigative news service. "Some of the foundation's board members have extensive financial ties to drug makers ... and the group has lobbied against federal and state proposals to limited opioid use. Painkiller sales have increased fourfold since 1999, but the foundation argues that pain remains widely undertreated."
The problem is not the drugs, but doctors who prescribe them too easily, contends Will Rowe, the foundation's chief executive. "I'm convinced with every shred of my body that our interest is improving the lives of people affected by pain," he said, "and we want to do that the best way we can."
Last year, $8.5 billion in narcotic painkillers were sold in the United States, IMS Health found. The CDC reported enough drugs were prescribed last year to "medicate every American adult around the clock for a month." OxyContin alone accounted for $3.1 billion in sales in 2010, up from $752 million in 2006. Last summer, the Institute of Medicine found 116 million American adults suffer from chronic pain.
The American Pain Foundation's website lists several publications for patients, policymakers and journalists. "Each depicts the benefits of opioids, and each is underwritten by the makers of those drugs," Ornstein and Weber report. Dr. Lewis Nelson, chairman of the federal Food and Drug Administration's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee, said the funding behind these guides, by its very nature, slants them. "If you're taking drug-company money and you're working as an advocacy group for patients, I think by definition you're biased," he said. "I take everything they say with a grain of salt." (Read more)
- Ky. Ranks 8th In The Number Of High-prescribing Medicare Physicians For Powerful Narcotic Painkillers And Stimulants
Kentucky ranks eighth in Medicare physicians who are considered "high prescribers" of Schedule 2 medications, drugs that have the highest potential for abuse like oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine and Ritalin, according to an analysis of Medicare data...
- New Rule Allows Medicare To Drop Doctors For Irresponsible Prescribing
Medicare physicians who prescribe drugs in abusive ways can now be expelled by the federal government, Charles Ornstein reports for ProPublica. This increased oversight of Medicare Part D prescribers could help decrease the availability of prescription...
- Fda Wants To Limit Number Of Hydrocodone Refills Available Without Another Doctor Visit; Approves Pure Version Of Drug
"The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended tighter controls on how doctors prescribe the most commonly used narcotic painkillers, changes that are expected to take place as early as next year," Barry Meier reports for The New York Times....
- Prescription Drugs Killing More Women Than Ever; Kentucky Ties For Fifth For Its High Percentage Of Deaths
The ongoing national epidemic of addiction to prescription painkillers is spreading more quickly among women, and it is killing more women than ever before. Kentucky ties Utah for the fifth highest percentage of female deaths due to prescription-drug...
- Prescription Drug Abuse Is An Epidemic Nationwide And In Ky.
Prescription pain medicine overdoses now kill more people in the U.S. than heroin and cocaine combined, with 40 Americans dying every day from painkiller abuse. "This stems from a few irresponsible doctors," said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers...