In Health Affairs Grantwatch blog, Shannon Brownlee and Terry Fulmer describe how the Lown Institute and John A. Hartford Foundation are working together to reduce medication overload. More
The twentieth century witnessed miracles in terms of improved health and greater longevity, and certainly one of the factors in that sea change has been advances in pharmaceuticals and pharmacotherapeutics. With the advent of antibiotics, steroids, antihypertensives, statins, and lifesaving medications for diabetes, people are living longer with fewer symptoms and, in general, better quality of life. Why then, is the Lown Institute concerned about the growing epidemic of medication overload? And why would The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) be interested in this work? More
Popular health news often fails to reflect the incrementalism and nuance of medical discoveries, instead hyping unproven treatments. Can we save health journalism? More
When we think of initiatives to improve health care value, we generally think of policies to reduce volume or price. But what if there was another way to improve the bang for each health care buck? More
Physician practices are increasingly being bought up by private equity firms. What does this mean for quality of care and overuse? More
Why is palliative care still underutilized, despite the improvements in quality of life it offers patients with serious illness? More
A new study in JAMA shows how often cardiovascular trials contain misleading information... More
Why is the culture the drives overprescribing so tough to change? Read the new op-ed from Theresa Brown, RN, to find out more! More
Social media has become the newest form of direct-to-consumer health advertising... but for what benefit? More
When I later became a nurse, I learned that seemingly “harmless” medications often cause harm, and older adults are particularly vulnerable. Every year, Americans over age 65 have preventable “adverse drug events” (ADEs) that lead to 280,000 hospital stays and nearly 5 million outpatient visits. The Lown Institute in Boston draws attention to this underrecognized problem in their recent report, Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem. Policymakers, patients, and health professionals must act, because over the next decade, medication overload is predicted to cause 4.6 million hospitalizations of older Americans and 150,000 premature deaths. More
Dr. Brandon Combs is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado and a Deprescribing Champion! Read our interview with Dr. Combs here. More
Medications can treat symptoms, prevent disease, and even extend our lives. But can taking too many drugs be harmful? A new report from the Lown Institute finds that millions of older Americans are at risk of harm from the side effects of multiple prescription drugs, an epidemic experts are calling “Medication Overload.” More
A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine examines how well clinicians in the ICU incorporate patients’ values into treatment decisions. More
Dr. Emily McDonald, Assistant Professor of Medicine at McGill University, is a member of the Medication Overload working group and a deprescribing champion! More
With older Americans taking more medications than they once did, the risks of too many prescription drugs are rising, a new study reports. More
Removal of the uterus and ovaries for benign cysts is all too common, and the effects can be devastating, as one patient found out. More
We hear a lot about how the opioid crisis is destroying families and communities. But the scope and impact of medication overload is much bigger: in the last two decades the number of older adults taking five or more medications has increased 300 percent. There’s also been a spike in the number of serious adverse drug events (ADEs). These alarming facts and others are outlined in a new report from the Lown Institute titled, “Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem.” Jana talks with the report’s co-authors: Judith Garber, a Health Policy and Communications Fellow at the Lown Institute; and Shannon Brownlee, Senior VP at the Institute and author of the book, “Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer.” Judith and Shannon talk about the dangers of medication overload, what’s driving the practice, solutions that have been effective in tackling the problem and what you can do to prevent adverse drug events. More
On the Agewyz podcast, Shannon Brownlee and Judith Garber discuss the new Lown report on medication overload and highlight the family/caregiver role in preventing harm from too many medications. More
New prescription drug delivery start-ups are bypassing the FDA's regulations on off-label marketing. More
We are living in the age of prescription drugs. They can turn once-fatal diseases into manageable, chronic conditions. But especially for older adults, many of whom take five or more medications each day, they can cause illness or even death. More