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In the last two decades the number of people age 65 or older who are taking five or more medications has increased 300 percent.  A problem that is much bigger than America’s opioid crisis, the scope and impact of over-prescribing in older adults is detailed in “Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem,” a report co-authored by The Lown Institute’s Judith Garber, a Health Policy and Communications Fellow at Lown; and Shannon Brownlee, Senior VP at the Institute and author of the book, “Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer.”  We talk with Shannon and Judith about what’s driving the practice of over-prescribing, solutions that have been effective in tackling the problem and what you can do to prevent adverse drug events.  This episode airs on the heels of a newly-released report from Lown titled, “Eliminating Medication Overload: A National Action Plan.”  Note: this episode originally aired April 11, 2019. More

You wouldn't give a baby a Xanax to put it to sleep, so why are we giving these medications to older adults? Shannon Brownlee and Judith Garber explain how the culture of prescribing and fragmentation contribute to medication overload.

For the past year, Kaiser Permanente has collaborated with the Lown Institute, a nonprofit organization that sheds light on the harms that can result from polypharmacy. Maisha Draves and Lynn Deguzman have had the privilege of sharing our organization’s successes with deprescribing, which has helped inform a pivotal report, Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem, and a new national action plan to address the issue. More

Pharmacists have many years of graduate training specifically around medication use and safety, and are perfectly positioned to help older patients and their medical providers manage medications. Yet most patients in America don’t realize their pharmacist has this expertise—and if, by chance, they do ask for their pharmacists for help, patients discover the pharmacist is too busy filling prescriptions to take the time for a longer conversation. More

Americans use too many medications and can cause harm to themselves. The Lown Institute in Brookline has a national action plan to take on ‘Big Pharma’ in a series of small tactics. More

Every day, 750 older Americans are hospitalized due to serious side effects from one or more medications. To stem the tide of harm, the Lown Institute today released Eliminating Medication Overload: A National Action Plan. More

Shannon Brownlee and Judith Garber of AcademyHealth organizational affiliate, Lown Institute, highlight key recommendations to eliminate medication overload in older adults. More

The immense political power of the pharmaceutical industry is a barrier to change, but that doesn’t mean that change is impossible. More