Low-value Care

The endurance of medication overload: Rethinking the medication review process

Abstract: Medications can be very useful tools for clinicians to help treat, prevent, and even cure illness, but they can also cause harm, especially when used inappropriately. In a recent report, “Medication Overload: America's Other Drug Problem,” the Lown Institute found that polypharmacy among Americans aged 65 years and older has increased substantially over the past few decades, and with it the rate of adverse drug events

Publication: ACCP

Date Published: March 9, 2020

Author(s): James P. McCormack, Shannon Brownlee, Judith Garber, John W. Devlin

View This Resource

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.