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...]
Introduced by 11 members of the WV House of Delegates, House Bill 4183 requires pharmacists to continually monitor the West Virginia Controlled Substance Monitoring Program (CSMP), maintained by the Board of Pharmacy, to determine whether any of his or her clients (patients) have overdosed on a [Read more...]