PRESS RELEASE: Millions of Older Americans Harmed by Too Many Medications
Lown Institute just released Eliminating Medication Overload: A National Action Plan. More
Blog
Epic’s call to block a proposed data rule is wrong for many reasons
Epic, the nation’s largest electronic health record (EHR) company and a major beneficiary of a $48 billion Obama-era federal program to promote the adoption of EHRs, has launched a full-scale effort to block the flow of data out of its software and into apps that benefit doctors and patients. That’s wrong for many reasons. More
Eliminating Medication Overload: A National Action Plan
To eliminate medication overload, serious cultural, educational, and policy changes are needed. This action plan offers recommendations for policymakers, health care institutions, clinicians, and patients across five key categories to reduce harm from multiple medication use. Suggested Citation: Eliminating medication overload: A national action plan. Working Group on Medication Overload. Brookline, MA: The Lown Institute, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46241/LI.YLBW4885 More
Access to Care May Explain Disparities in Prostate Cancer Outcomes
Disparities in medical care may account for why African-American men with prostate cancer are almost twice as likely to die as white men with the disease. More
Medication Overload: Reduce Pharmaceutical Industry Influence
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Pharmaceutical marketing is a significant factor in the growing public health crisis of medication overload, which puts millions of older adults at risk of preventable harm and premature death. This issue brief provides recommendations to reduce pharmaceutical industry influence by limiting pharma sales rep visits to clinicians and direct-to-consumer advertising.
Medication Overload: Improve Information at the Point of Care
This issue brief provides recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and electronic health records that would give clinicians the information they need to appropriately prescribe and deprescribe. More
Medication Overload: Educate and Train Health Professionals
This issue brief recommends training health professionals to reduce medication overload, by incorporating information on geriatric care and deprescribing training into professional schools and continuing education. More
Medication Overload: Implement prescription checkups
To eliminate medication overload, we should implement “prescription checkups,” medication reviews that give patients and clinicians opportunities to deprescribe (discontinue medications or reduce doses) appropriately. This issue brief provides detail on the policy, research, and technological changes needed to successfully implement prescription checkups. More
Medication Overload: Raise Awareness
This issue brief provides recommendations for how to raise awareness among patients, clinicians, and the general public about the potential harms of multiple medication use. More
Most dietary supplements don’t do anything. Why do we spend $35 billion a year on them?
Every year, Americans spend something like $35 billion on vitamins, minerals, botanicals and various other substances that are touted as health-giving but mostly do nothing at all. Nothing at all! More
Prescription Checkup – it could save your life
Have you had a prescription checkup lately? If you are a senior or if you take two or more medicines, a review of the medicines you take should be a standard part of your care. As your health changes, for better and for worse, the medicines you need to stay healthy will change too. More
29,000 Cancers Overdiagnosed in Australia in a Single Year
Almost one in four cancers detected in men were overdiagnosed in 2012, according to our new research, published today in the Medical Journal of Australia. More
The Real Epidemic: Not Burnout But ‘Moral Injury’ Of Doctors Unable To Do Right By Patients
The wellness of clinicians — the autonomy and latitude of practice that protect against moral injury — has a profound impact on everyone around them, and changes are essential to improving health care for all of us. More
“When They Restrain You They Ignore You”—What We Should Learn From the People We Restrain in Emergency Departments
Increasing numbers of people in the United States seek mental health care in emergency departments (EDs). From 2009 to 2015, mental health ED visits increased for pediatric and adult patients by 56.5% and 40.8%, respectively, and the ED length of stay among persons awaiting psychiatric hospitalization increased by 31.7%. More
Many patient groups have deep ties to pharma but fail to disclose backing
Amid ongoing debate over the role the pharmaceutical industry plays in shaping health policy, a new analysis finds that patient groups funded by drug makers generally support corporate interests, few groups have policies governing industry backing, and transparency is often lacking. More
How Baltimore Is Experimenting Its Way Out of the Food Desert
The city is fighting diet-related illnesses in its poorest neighborhoods one fresh tomato at a time. More
‘Hotspotting’ for Heavy Health Care Users Marches On, Despite New Doubts
Disappointing study results have cast a pall over a pioneering health care model connecting patients with community resources. More
The Disturbing Rise in Benzodiazepine Prescriptions
Are the drugs helping to fuel the opioid crisis? More
Why I Said Nothing When My Med School Professor Made Racist Remarks
Nearly 1 in 3 residents reported gender-related abuse, physical abuse and/or verbal abuse. Nearly 17% reported racial discrimination, and 10.3% reported sexual harassment... More
Getting mental health care can be hard enough. Then comes paying for it.
Despite two recent federal laws meant to bring parity between mental and physical health-care coverage, gaping holes remain in how behavioral health costs are paid. More