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/
No comments:
Post a Comment