Prescription Drug Abuse Knows No Bounds

Earlier this month, the American public was shocked by the untimely death of iconic pop legend Prince. Though autopsy results remain unreported, media coverage alleges that Prince was struggling with a prescription pill addiction to Percocet, receiving treatment for an opioid overdose just days before his death.

This post is not to re-hash celebrity news from various gossip reports but rather to point out the depth and breadth of the prescription drug epidemic. In the past decade, Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson were just a few other celebrities to overdose on legally prescribed medication. These very public deaths reflect a larger wave of prescription drug abuse across the United States, something ANS has touched on frequently in our blog posts.

A Proactive Approach to Patient Care

There seems to be a false sense of security that accompanies the use of doctor prescribed pain killers- the risk of addiction may not be stated clearly enough or is just not taken seriously.

At the end of the day opioid addiction knows no boundaries, spanning all races, ages, genders and income levels.

When it comes to chronic pain treatment, a focus on the education of well-being of the injured worker is crucial. That is why ANS developed pharmacotherapy review – not only as a medical cost containment strategy for payers, but as a proactive approach to minimizing inappropriate, duplicate or unnecessary treatment regimens, as is often seen with opioid based prescription pain killer treatment regimens.

Through in-depth reviews of each patient’s medical history alongside the assessment of the practices of prescribing physicians, our legal nurse experts are able to uncover underlying illnesses, behaviors and risks, and then implement actionable recommendations to existing treatment plans, addressing potential issues before they can lead to serious adverse events.

Concerned about the growing opioid epidemic and how it’s contributing to treatment outcomes and your large loss workman’s comp claims? We can help, contact ANS today at www.ans-solutions.com.

This content was originally posted at http://ans-solutions.com/prescription-drug-abuse-knows-no-bounds/

Effective Pharma Management Can Help Offset Increases in Prescription Costs

2015 saw rising drug prices contributing to the growth in pharmacy spending for American workers’ compensation payers. Meanwhile, opioid and compound drug cost management continues to be an Achilles heel. An effective pharma cost management program can offset these costs by aiming to improve pain treatment regimens for injured workers.

Pharmacotherapy Review Can Reduce Opioid Spend

Opioids continue to be the costliest class of medications for occupational injuries. To combat the rise in opioid utilization in chronic pain treatment of injured workers, ANS introduced a face-to-face and highly proactive approach to addressing pain physician prescribing practices.  Known as Pharmacotherapy review, it starts with an extensive review of the injured workers’ medical history along with their existing pain treatment regimen and historical physician treatment practices. An ANS Legal Nurse expert with intimate case familiarity visits the doctor in person at their office and negotiates an evidence supported pharmacy regime in a face-to-face and collaborative interaction. The treatment recommendations agreed to during this process not only contribute to reduced opioid prescriptions but often enhance the quality of care and life for injured workers with more risk averse and often more appropriate treatment alternatives.

Combating Rising Compounded Medication Costs

In 2015, the average cost for payers of compounded medications per prescription hovered around $2,000. The cost is high and so are the risks to patients:

• Compounded drugs are not federally regulated and product quality assessments are lacking unlike their FDA-approved counterparts.
• Compounded drugs are not clinically evaluated for safety or efficacy.
• Compounded preparations do not have standard product labeling or prescribing information with instructions for safe use.
• Compounding pharmacies are not required to report adverse events to the FDA
• Potential errors in the preparation of compounded drugs can and have caused adverse effects on patients.

Due to the unnecessary risks compounded drugs pose to patients these products are not considered first-line therapies in the treatment of injured workers. ANS Solutions leads the way in providing medical cost containment strategies that help our clients ensure that pain treatment therapies are appropriate, safe and economically responsibly. By managing compounded medications, clients can reduce unnecessary costs and mitigate the potential harmful effects to patient safety caused by pain physician prescribing habits.

Optimized Financial and Patient Outcomes

ANS medical cost containment programs work uniquely to address these and other legal issues that ensure the most rapid and cost reduced settlement of claims in the industry. Our proven strategies are so effective we offer a 1 million dollar pilot program performance guarantee, completely risk free.  To learn more contact us today or visit www.ans-solutions.com.

 

This content was originally published at http://ans-solutions.com/effective-pharma-management-can-help-offset-increases-in-prescription-costs/