In July 2017, Todd A. Graham, MD, a practicing orthopedic surgeon in South Bend, Ind., was fatally shot after getting into a heated dispute with a patient and her husband over a requested opioid prescription.1 The murder of Dr. Graham is a tragic example of the potential dangers of physician-patient disagreements. Rheumatology patients often endure…
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Patient Satisfaction Scores—Do They Matter?
You see a patient for the first time to establish care for Sjögren’s disease. She complains of dry eyes, dry mouth and diffuse arthralgias. You do not appreciate any synovitis on physical exam. Of note, you are the fourth rheumatologist she has seen during the past year. Toward the end of the clinic visit, she…
Nonopioid Medication May Be as Effective as Opioids for Chronic Pain
A recent study compared the efficacy of opioids with nonopioid pain treatments in patients with chronic back pain and hip or knee osteoarthritis. After 12 months, researchers found that treatment with opioids was not superior to treatment with nonopioid medication, with only minor differences in patients’ functional responses to the medications…
Opioids No Better Than NSAIDs for Chronic Back or Arthritis Pain
(Reuters Health)—Acetaminophen, ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are better than opioids at easing the intensity of chronic pain in the back, knees or hips, a U.S. experiment suggests. And opioids are no better than these other drugs at reducing how much pain interferes with daily activities, such as walking, working, sleeping or enjoying…
Upadacitinib Receives Breakthrough Designation, Abatacept Use Expands in Australia & More
The FDA has designated upadacitinib a breakthrough therapy to treat adults with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis…
Kentucky Accuses McKesson of Helping Fuel the Opioid Epidemic
(Reuters)—Kentucky’s attorney general on Monday accused drug distributor McKesson Corp. of helping fuel the opioid epidemic by failing to halt shipments of suspiciously large or frequent orders by pharmacies of prescription painkillers. The complaint by Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear was filed in a state court and was one of a flurry of lawsuits by…
Neurontin Prescriptions Surge Amid Opioid Crisis
(Reuters Health)—Prescriptions for nerve pain medicines like Neurontin and Lyrica have more than tripled in recent years, driven by increased use among chronically ill older adults and patients already taking opioids, a U.S. study suggests. The proportion of U.S. adults prescribed Neurontin and other drugs in the same family of medicines climbed from 1.2% in…
Trump Administration Rule Would Let More People Drop Obamacare
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The Trump administration proposed a rule on Thursday to allow Americans who are self-employed or work for small businesses to buy health insurance that does not comply with all Obamacare requirements in an effort to unwind the 2010 healthcare law. The rule, put forward by the Department of Labor, would allow individuals and small…
U.S. Life Expectancy Fell in 2016 as Opioid Overdoses Surged—CDC
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Life expectancy in the United States dipped in 2016 as the number of deaths due to opioid drug overdoses surged and total drug overdose deaths rose 21% to 63,600, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Life expectancy fell to 78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2015,…
Opioid Painkiller Prescriptions May Run in Families
(Reuters Health)—When one person in a household gets prescribed opioids, the other people who live with them are more likely to get their own prescriptions for these narcotic painkillers, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data on about 12.6 million people living in a household where someone was prescribed opioids and 6.4 million individuals in…
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