Doctors Who Get Gifts From Opioid Sales Reps Prescribe More Opioids
In wooing a doctor, even a single meal makes a difference.
Prescriptions
A Decade After the FDA Warned Doctors About Methadone, States Finally Stopped Recommending It
When used as a pain reliever, methadone is especially likely to cause unintentional overdoses.
Many E.R. Doctors Underestimate How Many Opioids They Prescribe
New research finds presenting them with actual numbers can change their behavior.
Will the DEA's Plan to Get Rural Americans Better Access to Addiction Treatment Work?
The DEA's rule change allows other health-care professionals aside from just doctors to prescribe buprenorphine, an effective—but potentially addictive—treatment.
These 14 Figures Show the Sources of Soaring Health-Care Costs in America
A new report shows rising costs for prescription drugs and emergency room visits.
Want to Fix America's Opioid Problem? Start With Its Doctors.
New research finds a majority of opioids prescriptions came from office-based doctors, not emergency departments.
The VA Is Prescribing Fewer Opioids—but Not for the Reason You Think
American medical institutions created the opioid crisis. The VA is showing how the establishment can help make amends.
How One Surgery Department Cut Its Opioid Prescriptions by 7,000 Pills in Five Months
A new study reports doctors in at least one hospital were prescribing far more pills than patients used.
A Major Loophole in the Health-Care Transparency Law
New data on drug and device company payments to doctors largely excludes nurse practitioners and physician assistants, though they play an ever-larger role in health care. One advanced-practice nurse pleaded guilty last month to taking drug company kickbacks.
Fraud Still Plagues Medicare's Prescription Drug Program
Medicare has increased oversight of its prescription drug program but many holes remain, allowing fraud and abuse to proliferate. Questionable practices were found at 1,400 pharmacies, which collectively billed Medicare $2.3 billion in 2014.
The Federal Government Finally Releases Data on Doctors’ Prescribing Patterns
The move follows an investigation showing that Medicare did little to find dangerous prescribing by doctors to seniors and the disabled. It is also part of the government’s new push to bring transparency to taxpayer-supported medical care.
Prescription Painkiller Abuse Linked With Heroin
As states crack down hard on pain prescriptions, some are seeing a resurgence in abuse of the harder stuff.
A Fanny Pack Mix-Up Unraveled a Medicare Fraud Scheme
Two secretaries in a doctor’s office have pleaded guilty and a pharmacy owner faces charges in a scam that Medicare allowed to thrive for more than two years.
The Dangers of Criminalizing Pregnancy Outcomes
New legislation in Tennessee has implications much wider than the use of illegal drugs by pregnant mothers-to-be.
Medicare's Drug Program Needs Stronger Protections Against Fraud
A new report finds that more than half of insurance companies in Medicare’s drug program haven’t reported fraud cases to the government. The findings echo an earlier investigation that found fraud flourishing in the program.
In a Major Shift, Medicare Seeks Power to Ban Harmful Prescribers
Action follows ProPublica’s investigative series detailing inappropriate and wasteful prescribing and fraud in the nation’s biggest prescription drug program.
Caught Up in a Medicare Drug Fraud
The long list of medications on Joyce Heap’s insurance forms didn’t look right. It turns out they weren’t—and Medicare didn’t seem to care.
Medicare's Failure to Track Docs Wastes Billions on Name-Brand Drugs
The failure to track doctors who shun cheaper generics racks up huge costs for taxpayers in Medicare Part D, which fills one of every four U.S. prescriptions.
Are You Overpaying for Name-Brand Drugs?
With billions in potential savings for Medicare at stake, we asked drug experts and practitioners alike why more doctors don’t recommend generics when they can.
Why Are So Many Elderly Patients in Miami Being Treated for Dementia?
Researchers find that a higher proportion of seniors are prescribed antidepressants, dementia drugs, and other medications in some parts of the country than others.