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Doctors prescribed powerful opioids for a patient after back surgery but gave her little guidance on how to take them safely. Then, she says, they misdiagnosed her withdrawal symptoms. Some experts say this situation is akin to a hospital-acquired condition.
One Northern California physician is a foot soldier in the fight against a surge of hepatitis C, mainly among young drug users who share infected needles.
Based on research conducted at the University of Michigan鈥檚 medical center, a group of surgeons developed a strategy to help post-surgical patients from misusing or abusing their prescription painkillers.
Medicare and insurers struggle to oversee a booming business in testing urine samples. In some cases, pain doctors鈥 lack of follow-through can turn fatal.
In this episode of 鈥淲hat the Health?鈥 Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Sarah Jane Tribble of Kaiser Health News discuss some of the under-covered health stories of the past several weeks, including drug price issues, the opioid epidemic and women鈥檚 reproductive health.
Following minor surgery, KHN鈥檚 consumer columnist sees how easily doctors offer pain pills, fueling epidemic of opioid addiction.
Doctors and pharmacists in Northern California are emulating drug company sales reps with a fresh purpose in mind: They visit medical offices in the hardest-hit counties to change their peers' prescribing habits and curtail the use of painkillers.
With the nation's opioid crisis, urine testing has become a booming business and is especially lucrative for doctors who operate their own labs, a Kaiser Health News investigation finds. And dozens of practitioners have earned "the lion鈥檚 share" of their Medicare income exclusively from urine drug screens.
In this episode of 鈥淲hat the Health?鈥 Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post discuss the start of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, legislative efforts on Capitol Hill on taxes and children鈥檚 health insurance, and recommendations of the president鈥檚 opioid commission.
As more patients receive hospice care at home, some of the powerful, addictive drugs they鈥檙e prescribed are ending up in the wrong hands.
One Kentucky program is eyed by other jurisdictions as a way to get addicted parents into recovery and help them care for their children at home.
Some drug courts offer participants a full range of evidence-based treatment, including medication-assisted treatment. Others don't allow addiction medications at all. And some permit just one: Vivitrol.
The $45 billion for opioid treatment in the Senate bill sounds like a lot of money, but an advocate estimates it would provide $1,000 to $2,000 per year for each person in Pennsylvania who might need treatment. Meanwhile, one year of methadone treatment for opioid addiction costs about $4,700 per year,
Dr. Jerome Adams is the health commissioner in Indiana, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence.
Treatment for opioid addiction can be expensive and difficult to coordinate. That might make some people tempted to think they can overcome the addiction on their own. This rarely works.
Report by CDC researchers finds a steady fall in opioid use in recent years, but the rates are still three times higher than in 1999.
Gabapentin, prescribed for epilepsy and nerve damage, is touted by federal health officials as an alternative to opioids for patients. But some are now abusing the drug.
As many as a dozen GOP senators may oppose the Senate majority leader鈥檚 Obamacare repeal bill. But the dealmaking is just beginning.
A study finds that nearly 19 percent of people with mental illnesses use prescription drugs, while only 5 percent of other people do.
The North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition has advanced a local shift from a tough-on-drugs approach to harm-reduction philosophy. Other red states signal they may follow suit.
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