Low-value Care

America the Overprescribed

Abstract: "Depending on what you count, over‑prescribing costs the United States anywhere from a few billion dollars a year in easily measurable drug waste to more than half a trillion dollars…" writes Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute.

Date Published: September 2, 2025

Author(s): Vikas Saini

Publication: Ripon Forum

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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.