Medication Safety News Posts
Best Care Transitions and Readmission Rates Tied to Post-Discharge Care Support for 90 Days
Older adults who receive direct support for up to 90 days after a care transition have lower odds of hospital readmission and better medication continuity, according to a new meta-analysis. The most effective support is medication reconciliation, telephone follow-up...
Starting the Conversation About Prescription (Rx) Opioids | CDC Guidelines
In 2018, 9.9 million people reported misuse of prescription pain relievers, such as opioids, during the past year on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Doctors prescribe opioids to treat moderate to severe pain, often following a surgery or injury or for...
Consensus-Based Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has published the 2020-2021 Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals (TMSBP). The updated list includes new best practices on opioid prescribing and on the risks related to the 'override' feature with...
Eliminating Medication Overload: Lown Institute Action Plan
Every day, 750 older Americans are hospitalized due to serious side effects from one or more medications. The odds of experiencing a serious adverse reaction to a medication increases 7 to 10 percent with each additional drug—yet today, more than 40 percent of older...
National Drug Control Strategy – Addressing the ‘Treatment Gap’
In 2018, an estimated 21.2 million Americans, aged 12 and older, needed treatment for a Substance Use Disorder (SUD), but only 3.7 million received any kind of treatment and only 2.4 million received treatment at a specialty facility - a disparity known as the...
Medication Safety Tools and Resources
National estimates suggest that Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) contribute an additional $3.5 billion to United States healthcare costs. Given the United States population’s large and ever-increasing magnitude of medication exposure, the potential for harm from ADEs is a...
In Healthcare, Knowledge is Power
Being an informed consumer is essential to promoting and achieving positive health outcomes. This knowledge can range from finding a quality provider, where to seek care, ways to reduce harm and affordability of care. Individuals that are our most vulnerable...
Opioids Still Commonly Prescribed at Discharge
Despite concerns that opioids put patients at risk for dependency and adverse events, prescriptions for opioids are common for patients at discharge, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers examined a random sample of Medicare claims for...
WebEx Invite: CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain
Free WebEx Invitation: CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opiods for Chronic Pain Wednesday, June 22, 2016 1 - 2 p.m. (CST) Free Continuing Education credit is being offered There is no need to pre-register. Additional details are included below. To participate by...