Minnesota and Wisconsin are teaming up to tackle prescription painkiller abuse. The attorneys general from both states met at the Minnesota Capitol Monday to discuss their “Dose of Reality” campaign. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson says prescription opioid deaths now …
So far, the fight against America’s opioid crisis has focused on treating addiction and curbing abuse. In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.1 billion to fund health care for addicts, and last month Congress allocated $181 million in …
Nearly one out of every three (32 percent) opioid prescriptions, which are subsidized by America’s employers, is being abused, according to a report by a healthcare data and technology company. San Francisco-based Castlight Health Inc. released the study, “The Opioid …
The scribbled, cryptic doctor’s prescription is headed toward eradication in New York, where the nation’s toughest paperless-prescribing requirement takes effect this month. Instead of handing patients slips of paper, physicians soon must electronically send orders directly to pharmacies for everything …
Prescriptions for painkillers and doctor-shopping by pill seekers have decreased since Kentucky passed legislation targeting prescription drug abuse, according to a University of Kentucky study. The law passed during a special session in 2012 expanded the state’s prescription drug monitoring …
A council created by Gov. Nikki Haley says requiring doctors to use a statewide database to check their patients’ prescription history can reduce the rampant abuse of painkillers in South Carolina. The governor’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Council on Monday …
Health care providers in some states prescribe far more painkillers than those in other states, according to a new government report. Health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers in 2012 – many more in some states than …
The fidgety patient stood a bit too close to the counter at DownHome Pharmacy in Roanoke, Virginia, and chatted a bit too eagerly. She had no insurance, she said, and would be paying cash for her prescription for Norco, a …
The largest health insurer in Massachusetts has cut prescriptions of narcotic painkillers by an estimated 6.6 million pills in 18 months as part of a campaign to curb abuse. The decline in prescribed opiates including Percocet and Vicodin followed the …
