Low-value Care

Special Report: Questionable Care: Who Is Responsible?

Abstract: Even in 2020, when many hospitals were refusing non-urgent surgeries, more than 100,000 unnecessary, and potentially harmful procedures were performed on older patients in the USA, according to anaylsis from health think-tank the Lown Institute. "You couldn't go into your local coffee shop, but hospitals brought people in for all kinds of unnecessary procedures," said Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute. "The fact that a pandemic barely slowed things down shows just how deeply entrenched overuse is in American healthcare."

Publication: PRLog

Date Published: September 19, 2022

Author(s): Sara Phillips

Publication: PRLog

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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.