More and more patients are being screened to help cut out ineffective medicine and avoid harmful drug interactions
More patients are taking five or more prescription medications at once, putting them at risk for side effects and drug interactions. Amid concern about the potential harm of taking too many drugs, more doctors are deprescribing, getting patients off prescriptions that are no longer necessary.~WSJ
According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, nearly 40% of patients in their 60s take more than five medications.
“What was good for you once might not be as good for you now,” says Cara Tannenbaum, a geriatrician and the scientific director of the Institute of Gender and Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in Montreal. “On a regular basis, patients should be asking their health-care providers, ‘Is this still the right drug for me, and if not, what other drug or nondrug therapies are safer and equally effective?’ ”
Dr. Tannenbaum and pharmacist Barbara Farrell have developed a website, deprescribing.org, which is maintained by the Canadian Deprescribing Network, a group that includes health professionals, policy makers and patient advocates. The site, used by doctors in both the U.S. and Canada, provides information to help patients determine if they should consider stopping certain medications that may be unnecessary or cause harm, including a common medication for heartburn or reflux called a proton pump inhibitor and certain diabetes drugs that increase the risk for low blood sugar.
Medication use can start to pile up in middle age or earlier, especially in patients being treated for diabetes, heart disease or cancer. People may see different doctors who don’t coordinate care with each other. Soon, they are in a situation known as polypharmacy, defined as five or more drugs.
The body processes many drugs less efficiently as it ages, leading to problems with long-term medications. Statins, prescribed to control cholesterol, may not be needed over age 75, and they can cause muscle weakness and increase the risk of falls.
The American Geriatrics Society last year updated its Beers Criteria, a list of 40 medications or classes of drugs that are potentially inappropriate for older adults. An expert panel is working on an update for 2018.
“The goal is to keep patients as healthy as possible on the least number of medications.”
VIDEO: When Patients Take Too Many Pills, Doctors Deprescribe
Pharmacogenetics is a tool used by doctors across the country to provide evidence-based results on how a person metabolizes medications. This simple swab of the cheek is a guide to help clinicians with current medication regimen, as well as a roadmap for future medications.
“Knowing that a medication doesn’t have the ability to give a patient therapy is a great way to deprescribe. You have evidence that person is not receiving therapy because their body does not metabolize that particular drug the way the drug manufacturer intended you to – making it easier to deprescribe, or discontinue that medication,” said Clay Bullard, President of PGx Medical a pharmacogenetic consulting firm headquartered in Edmond, OK.
“We work within the field of aging services across the country educating them on the benefits and value pharmacogenetics brings to not only the patient, but the caregiver and the community when dealing with a nursing home or assisted living facility, Our job is to be experts in the field of pharmacogenetics and then educate and help implement the test in communities, clinics and pharmacies across the U.S.”
Pharmacogenetics is fully reimbursed by Medicare B and in select states, Medicaid. As stated in the WSJ article, by eliminating multiple drugs, you help reduce the chance of falls, drug interactions, and many other clinical concerns.
For more information about pharmacogenetic testing, contact:
PGx Medical
info@pgxmed.com or 405-509-5112
or go to www.pgxmed.com
Read entire article at WSJ.com
More Patients Are Taking More Prescription Medications At Once