Health News
The Sun offers a quick retort from the medical director of the pain-management center where Malla practices, paraphrasung him as saying "the reports omit or minimize important factors, such as the specialty of the physicians and the morphine equivalence of the drugs they prescribe."
Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti also said in his written statement that his group emphasizes drugs with lower abuse potential and that more than 92 percent of patients at such centers "are already on long-term opioids; consequently, the best we can do (at these centers) is reduce the dosage."
Manchikani is CEO of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, a lobbying group that advocates monitoring of painlkiller prescriptions, and a leading contributor to a wde range of political causes. The Sun doesn't note the latter point, but focuses on the issues of painkiller abuse, a major problem in Kentucky.
"With more than 1,000 deaths per year, Kentucky in 2013 had the third-highest drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, according to the Trust for America's Health," Black notes.
As for the other doctor, the Sun reports, "ProPublica's data on Love, who practices at the Lourdes Pain Management Center, reports that 59 percent of his 1,141 patients filled one or more prescriptions for a Schedule 2 drug and 51 percent filled for a Schedule 3 drug. Both figures are above the average of 45 percent and 41 percent, respectively, for his specialty in Kentucky.
"A spokeswoman for Love said Lourdes center represents the only location in the region where Medicaid patients receive inpatient pain consultations," the Sun reports, quoting her: "The patients we see are often very sick, and the treatments and medications we provide are the last resort comfort measures so the patients can spend quality time with family" as they near death.
The story is behind the Sun's paywall.
- Oregon Medicaid Will Fund Alternative Treatments For Pain In Effort To Cut Opioid Abuse; Ky. Only Pays For A Few Alternatives
Oregon's version of Medicaid is getting ready to pay for some alternative treatments to pain pills in hopes of reducing the number of people who become addicted to opioids or abuse them, Kristian Foden-Vencil reports for NPR. The coordinator of the...
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When Medicare's drug program, called Part D, was put into place more than a decade ago, Congress decided to not pay for anti-anxiety medications. In 2013, when Medicare started paying for them, the program went from spending nothing for these medications...
- 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....
- House Panel Approves Bill Easing Rules Of 2012's Pill-mill Bill
They could call it the pill they're taking to fix the pill-mill bill. A state House committee approved a bill Tuesday that would tweak last year's legislation aimed at cracking down on prescription drug abuse through doctor shopping and "pill...
Health News
Paducah Sun looks at two local doctors who write many prescriptions for painkillers; such local data are easily available
The Paducah Sun has used some easily available information about two local doctors to shine a local light on their heavy prescribing of opioids.
The story by Laurel Black begins, "As narcotic painkiller abuse has drawn more public attention, two Paducah physicians ? who have been ranked high among prescribers of such drugs ? have found themselves defending their practices."
The story cites The Courier-Journal's analysis of 2012 Medicare data that showed Dr. Yogesh Malla of Paducah was "the No. 3 prescriber of narcotic painkillers in the commonwealth. A USA Today article listed Dr. Riley Love, also of Paducah, as 20th in the nation. Both reports used information the news organization ProPublica obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."
The story by Laurel Black begins, "As narcotic painkiller abuse has drawn more public attention, two Paducah physicians ? who have been ranked high among prescribers of such drugs ? have found themselves defending their practices."
The story cites The Courier-Journal's analysis of 2012 Medicare data that showed Dr. Yogesh Malla of Paducah was "the No. 3 prescriber of narcotic painkillers in the commonwealth. A USA Today article listed Dr. Riley Love, also of Paducah, as 20th in the nation. Both reports used information the news organization ProPublica obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."
The Sun offers a quick retort from the medical director of the pain-management center where Malla practices, paraphrasung him as saying "the reports omit or minimize important factors, such as the specialty of the physicians and the morphine equivalence of the drugs they prescribe."
Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti also said in his written statement that his group emphasizes drugs with lower abuse potential and that more than 92 percent of patients at such centers "are already on long-term opioids; consequently, the best we can do (at these centers) is reduce the dosage."
Manchikani is CEO of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, a lobbying group that advocates monitoring of painlkiller prescriptions, and a leading contributor to a wde range of political causes. The Sun doesn't note the latter point, but focuses on the issues of painkiller abuse, a major problem in Kentucky.
"With more than 1,000 deaths per year, Kentucky in 2013 had the third-highest drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, according to the Trust for America's Health," Black notes.
As for the other doctor, the Sun reports, "ProPublica's data on Love, who practices at the Lourdes Pain Management Center, reports that 59 percent of his 1,141 patients filled one or more prescriptions for a Schedule 2 drug and 51 percent filled for a Schedule 3 drug. Both figures are above the average of 45 percent and 41 percent, respectively, for his specialty in Kentucky.
"A spokeswoman for Love said Lourdes center represents the only location in the region where Medicaid patients receive inpatient pain consultations," the Sun reports, quoting her: "The patients we see are often very sick, and the treatments and medications we provide are the last resort comfort measures so the patients can spend quality time with family" as they near death.
The story is behind the Sun's paywall.
- Oregon Medicaid Will Fund Alternative Treatments For Pain In Effort To Cut Opioid Abuse; Ky. Only Pays For A Few Alternatives
Oregon's version of Medicaid is getting ready to pay for some alternative treatments to pain pills in hopes of reducing the number of people who become addicted to opioids or abuse them, Kristian Foden-Vencil reports for NPR. The coordinator of the...
- Seniors Get A Lot Of Anti-anxiety Drugs, Sometimes In Dangerous Combination With Narcotics; Ky. Ranks Third In The Nation In That
When Medicare's drug program, called Part D, was put into place more than a decade ago, Congress decided to not pay for anti-anxiety medications. In 2013, when Medicare started paying for them, the program went from spending nothing for these medications...
- 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....
- House Panel Approves Bill Easing Rules Of 2012's Pill-mill Bill
They could call it the pill they're taking to fix the pill-mill bill. A state House committee approved a bill Tuesday that would tweak last year's legislation aimed at cracking down on prescription drug abuse through doctor shopping and "pill...