The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidelines March 15, providing recommendations for primary care providers who are prescribing opioids for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. The guideline addresses: (1) when to [Read more...]
According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), from 1999 to 2013, the amount of painkillers, called opioids, prescribed and sole in the U.S. have nearly quadrupled, and overdose deaths have quadrupled in lock-step. There is wide variation in opioid prescribing between states, [Read more...]
On February 11, federal Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) sent a letter to state Medicaid directors providing additional guidance on how they can become compliant with the final AMP rule. The letter outlines key changes that states need to address when determining their [Read more...]
Even after overdosing on opioid medications, more than nine out of 10 patients continued to get prescriptions for powerful painkillers, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The overdoses examined in the report were serious enough to send patients to emergency [Read more...]