CVS is finally trying to do something about the opioid epidemic:
Drug-store chain CVS Health announced Thursday that it will limit opioid prescriptions in an effort to combat the epidemic that accounted for 64,000 overdose deaths last year alone.
Amid pressure on pharmacists, doctors, insurers and drug companies to take action, CVS also said it would boost funding for addiction programs, counseling and safe disposal of opioids.
[...] The company's prescription drug management division, CVS Caremark, which provides medications to nearly 90 million people, said it would use its sweeping influence to limit initial opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies for new patients facing acute ailments.
It will instruct pharmacists to contact doctors when they encounter prescriptions that appear to offer more medication than would be deemed necessary for a patient's recovery. The doctor would be asked to revise it. Pharmacists already reach out to physicians for other reasons, such as when they prescribe medications that aren't covered by a patient's insurance plan.
The plan also involves capping daily dosages and initially requiring patients to get versions of the medications that dispense pain relief for a short period instead of a longer duration.
[...] "The whole effort here is to try to reduce the number of people who are going to end up with some sort of opioid addiction problem," CVS Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said in an interview.
It appears this initiative is limited to initial filling of prescriptions — there is no mention of changes in the handling of refills.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday September 25 2017, @06:27PM
Back in 2015 when I had a big blood clot in my right lung--but *before* they knew that, thinking it was muscle strain--they prescribed me cyclobenzaprine (flexiril), a muscle relaxant that looks a lot like a tricyclic antidepressant, and Tramadol, an opioid painkiller. Now, I'm not a pharmacist, but I did get through most of Kaplan's training course before, ironically, having to quit due to getting sick. And something sounded off about this combination. So I looked it up, and it turns out combining these two is a good way to die of serotonin syndrome. Needless to say I didn't touch either, and it took over two years to run those initial small bottles down to nothing.
I am one of those people who responds really, really well to opioids. They don't just relieve the pain; they make me feel *good.* And for that reason i am never, ever, ever going to get onto them.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...