Low-value Care

The Hidden Drug Problem of Older Adults: Medication Overload

Abstract: Medication overload (also known as polypharmacy) is a serious problem among older adults. It’s getting new attention as efforts to make health care more “age-friendly” spread around the US.

Publication: The Institute of Healthcare Improvement

Date Published: August 20, 2019

Author(s): Terry Fulmer

Publication: The Institute of Healthcare Improvement

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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.