Mr. Jones enters the pharmacy expecting to pick up his prescription. But when he gets to the window, he gets a rude awakening. His acne cream is $200, much too expensive for him to afford. What can doctors do about it?
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Pharmacists Slow To Dispense Lifesaving Overdose DrugJanuary 3, 2018 |
Gale Dunham, a pharmacist in Calistoga, Calif., knows the devastation the opioid epidemic has wrought, and she is glad the anti-overdose drug naloxone is becoming more accessible. But so far, Dunham said, she has not taken advantage of a California law that allows pharmacists to dispense the medication to patients without a doctor’s prescription
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This Is Why a Third of Antidepressants Are Prescribed for Something ElseDecember 19, 2017 |
Doctors often use medicines ‘off-label’ to treat people with conditions that these drugs haven’t been tested on. Leah Shaffer explores how uncovering the secret life of antidepressants in particular could open up a host of new treatments
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Doctor’s Rx For A Stiff Knee: A Prescription For 90 Percocet PillsNovember 21, 2017 |
I recently hobbled to the drugstore to pick up painkillers after minor outpatient knee surgery, only to discover that the pharmacist hadn’t yet filled the prescription. My doctor’s order of 90 generic Percocet exceeded the number my insurer would approve, he said. I left a short time later with a bottle containing a smaller number
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Getting Doctors To Stop Prescribing Codeine To Kids Has Taken YearsNovember 16, 2017 |
For years the Food and Drug Administration has been trying to get doctors to quit prescribing codeine, an opioid painkiller, to children after getting their tonsils or adenoids out
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For Some People, Opioids Can Actually Make Pain WorseNovember 6, 2017 |
Scientists are learning how weaning off opioids like morphine or fentanyl can be even more complicated than they thought. The narcotic painkillers are essential to dull the excrutiating pain that can follow things like surgery or cancer. When taken for more than a month, the medications risk causing more harm than good in a variety of ways. Travis Rieder knows first hand
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Amid Opioid Crisis, Insurers Restrict Pricey, Less Addictive PainkillersSeptember 18, 2017 |
Drug companies and doctors have been accused of fueling the opioid crisis, but some question whether insurers have played a role, too
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A year ago, Maine was one of the first states to set limits on opioid prescriptions. The goal in capping the dose of prescription painkillers a patient could get was to stem the flow of opioids that are fueling a nationwide epidemic of abuse
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