Low-value Care

Changing Diagnosis Patterns Are Increasing Medicare Spending for Inpatient Hospital Services

Abstract: Overall Medicare spending increases for inpatient care are being driven more by rising volumes of highly reimbursed services than by growth in payments per se.

Publication: The Commonwealth Fund

Date Published: April 28, 2021

Author(s): Melinda B. Buntin, Christine Lai, Liliana Podczerwinski, Sabrina Poon and Christopher Wallis

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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

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.

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.