Low-value Care

Hype Collides With Science As FDA Tries To Rein In ‘Wild West’ of COVID Blood Tests

Abstract: Last month, the CDC issued new guidelines warning that, given the low prevalence of the virus in the general population, even the most accurate tests could be wrong half of the time.

Publication: Kaiser Health News

Date Published: June 3, 2020

Author(s): JoNel Aleccia and Anna Maria Barry-Jester

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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.