DRUG prescribers throughout the USA should establish a seven-day supply limit for initial opioid prescriptions, which should also be written electronically to slow the abuse of the addictive painkillers, a group of pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers and health plans wrote in a letter to US President Donald Trump this week, reports Modern Healthcare.
The group also recommended exploring opioid treatment alternatives, lowering dosages as well as the number of extended-release pills prescribed, imposing closer oversight on prescription drug-monitoring data, expanding drug disposal programs, and bolstering community-backed medication treatment programs.
The recommendations align with Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
"We stand committed to engage in a public-private partnership and to work in the most collaborative fashion across the healthcare system to help solve the national healthcare crisis of opioid abuse," the companies wrote.
Another emphasis of the group was the use of opioid alternatives, making reference to the newly released JAMA published paper (PD Wed) which showed that a combination of ibuprofen with paracetamol works just as well as a combination of any of three different opioids with paracetamol.
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