'Legacy prescribing' a problem in primary care Nov. 14, 2018

Nearly half of patients have been prescribed a medication for longer than necessary. Medscape reports a recent study in Annals of Family Medicine has discovered that "legacy prescribing" - the prescription of drugs for a longer period than is typically needed to treat a condition - is a major problem in the primary care setting, which is often the coordinating center and gatekeeper.

Chronic pain tops the list of conditions that Pennsylvania patients are using medical marijuana to treat. According to Philly.com, an informal survey has found up to 70 percent of patients are using the treatment for pain. Other common conditions include epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and autism, with dispensary officials claiming anecdotal evidence of success.

The Wolf Administration has announced a $10 million grant to the Department of Human Services' (DHS) Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to better integrate primary care and mental health care services. According to DHS, the funding was awarded by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

But, according to a new study out of the University of Michigan, the more they're prescribed, the more they take. The size of the prescription may be the most important factor in determining how many pills a patient will take - more than their pain scores, the intensity of the operation, and other personal factors. The study used in-depth data from 2,392 patients.

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Health has just launched a prescriber education initiative called Evidence-Based Prescribing: Tools You Can Use to Fight the Opioid Epidemic. The curriculum teaches best practices for using the state's prescription drug monitoring database. All courses are free and qualify for 1 CME credit each; they're available on the TRAIN PA website.