Economic theory suggests that medical spending risk affects the extent to which households are willing to accept financial risk, and consequently their investment portfolios. In this study, we focus on the elderly for whom medical spending represents a substantial risk. We exploit the exogenous reduction in prescription drug spending risk because of the introduction of Medicare Part D in the U....

Methods Participating pharmacists and pharmacy technicians screened consecutive individuals picking up prescription medications about their (1) NHP use, (2) prescription medication use, (3) concurrent NHP/prescription medication use in the previous one month, and (4) the occurrence of potential AEs. If a potential AE was identified and the patient provided written consent, a research pharmacist...

In January 2005, a Wisconsin mother of six children who experienced condom failure after intercourse obtained a prescription for emergency contraception1 and traveled to a Milwaukee Walgreens to fill the prescription.2 Instead of honoring the physician’s medical instructions, however, pharmacist Michelle Long refused to fill the prescription and “publicly berated” the customer, telling her, “Yo...

Introduction Opioids have been viewed for centuries as the most effective treatment for chronic pain, yet in the past decade the misuse of prescription opioids has become a The number of prescriptions filled for opioid pain relievers—some of the most powerful medications available—has increased dramatically in recent years. From 1997 to 2007, the milligram per person use of prescription opioids...

OBJECTIVES To determine (i) the prevalence and pattern of prescription errors in our Centre and, (ii) appraise pharmacists' intervention and correction of identified prescription errors. DESIGN A descriptive, single blinded cross-sectional study. SETTING Kidney Care Centre is a public Specialist hospital. The monthly patient load averages 60 General Out-patient cases and 17.4 in-patients. ...

Consumption of antibiotics leads to emergence and selection of antimicrobial-resistant bacterial strains which have become a problem in most countries. Despite the fact that antibiotics are considered as prescription-only medicines, these drugs are often requested by and dispensed to patients without a medical prescription in many areas of the world. Despite being illegal, over-the-counter sale...

In 1998 the medical costs of obesity were estimated to be as high as $78.5 billion, with roughly half financed by Medicare and Medicaid. This analysis presents updated estimates of the costs of obesity for the United States across payers (Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers), in separate categories for inpatient, non-inpatient, and prescription drug spending. We found that the increased pr...

OBJECTIVE Diabetes care has changed substantially in the past 2 decades. We examined the change in medical spending and use related to diabetes between 1987 and 2011. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Using the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey and the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys in 2000-2001 and 2010-2011, we compared per person medical expenditures and uses among adults ≥ 18 years of...

BACKGROUND The use of medical cannabis is increasing, most commonly for pain, anxiety and depression. Emerging data suggest that use and abuse of prescription drugs may be decreasing in states where medical cannabis is legal. The aim of this study was to survey cannabis users to determine whether they had intentionally substituted cannabis for prescription drugs. METHODS A total of 2,774 indi...

INTRODUCTION To ensure safe, effective and rational prescribing by tomorrow's doctors it is important to assess the prescribing skills of today's medical students. The aim of this study was to assess the prescribing skills of MBBS preclinical students of a Teaching Hospital. METHODS First and second year medical students were given different sets of common clinical scenarios and asked to writ...