DEA

Roughly 42% of U.S. assisted living residents has Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, and about 70% are women, according to a newly published data brief.

Proposed legislation would allow nursing home staff — acting on a physician's verbal instructions — to order and administer controlled medications to patients in urgent need of pain relief.

Some 59% of community pharmacies provide critical long-term care services to patients and 100% of them face unprecedented challenges as 2011 gets into full swing.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is looking to modify its policies regarding the disposal of powerful medications that long-term care facilities need to discard. Providers, including the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, have submitted comments for the DEA's public meeting, which will be held Wednesday and Thursday in Washington. Among the hottest topics will be the DEA's concern that abusers might devise new and unwanted pathways to re-route controlled substances from intended destruction.

A major long-term care association Monday praised the decision by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) to place a hold on the nomination of Michelle Leonhart to head the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. He believes the DEA needs to change its policy regarding the delivery of painkillers by nurses in long-term care settings.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) continues to express his reservations about Michelle Leonhart, the nominee to lead the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Leonhart on Wednesday, Kohl said he still has concerns about the DEA's policy regarding the delivery of pain medications in nursing homes.

Recent Drug Enforcement Agency guidance that allows nurses to to fill certain pain medication prescriptions is a good start, but it doesn't go far enough, provider groups say.

The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists has come out strongly in favor of allowing nursing home nurses to act on behalf of physicians when it comes to prescribing pain medications. ASCP officials on Thursday released their recommendations for changes to current Drug Enforcement Agency policy concerning controlled substances in nursing homes.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency on Thursday issued an interim rule that slightly relaxes its position on pain medications in nursing homes.