Letter to the Editor
Published Tuesday, October 4, 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/04/us-medicare-fraud-idUSTRE7935LD20111004
Dear Editor:
In recent events, it has been reported that Medicare beneficiaries under Part D of Medicare are obtaining horrendous amount of prescriptions that point to drug abuse behavior. The main problem is not the fact that patients are abusing prescription drugs, but the lack of transparency between physicians and pharmacies when it comes to patient information.
As a public health student, I’ve noticed that in order to minimize drug abuse within Medicare, preventative measures must be taken. Limiting patients to one doctor and one pharmacy is not feasible for patients because many factors come into play when one chooses a specific physician or pharmacy, for example: location, open hours or clientele.
What many do not realize is that a possible solution to this issue is currently in the works. By integrating physicians and pharmacies nation-wide under electronic health record standards, it could increase correspondence among each sector of healthcare. Patients will no longer be able to hit up multiple physicians for the same prescription without raising a red flag. [1] Also, this switch towards electronic health records can alleviate miscommunication and allow more fluidity in information. [2]
Sincerely,
Amy Lei
2510 College Ave. Apt D
Berkeley, CA 94704
(619) 471-5640
With the amount of money we spend on drugs and pharmaceuticals increasing, it is important to curb prescription drug abuse, especially in government programs like Medicare. I agree that an electronic health care records system is the way to go. By implementing an electronic system, it would be easier to eliminate patients' ability to get prescriptions from multiple doctors and pharmacies. For example, in Taiwan, citizens have smart cards that store personal information, medical history, public health administration information, and information related to their national healthcare insurance program. Doctors can better provide health services when they have an extensive medical history. If the US were to implement this system, Medicare patients would no longer be able to "cheat the system."
ReplyDelete-Madison Duncan
While I agree that it's important to curb prescription drug abuse and that switching to electronic health records can help alleviate this issue, health practitioners should also share some of the responsibility for curbing this problem. Doctors should be trained to recognize the signs of drug abuse so that they can better address the problem. While waiting for the implementation of an electronic system, they could also start implementing a stricter system where they use "gate-keepers" to weed out the drug abusers as well as start writing prescriptions for smaller amounts of pills. For instance, instead of writing a prescription that would last for a month, they could write one that would only last a week or a couple of days, giving the patient only just enough to help alleviate his supposed pain and forcing him to return to the doctor every week. This way, the doctor is able to follow up with the patient on his condition as well as maybe curb potential drug abuse.
ReplyDelete-Kathleen Ma