Restricting access to hydrocodone painkillers will require a lengthy process unless Congress takes action, the Food and Drug Administration recently told lawmakers.
An advisory panel has recommended making it more difficult for long-term care residents and others to receive certain painkillers. Providers criticize the proposal, saying it could leave seniors suffering for long periods.
February 20, 2013
The Food and Drug Administration should "act without delay" in tightening access to hydrocodone painkillers such as Vicodin, Congressional lawmakers urged in a recent letter.
Nursing home residents could be adversely affected if proposed painkiller regulations are put in place, according to experts who spoke at a recent federal hearing. After meeting for two days last week at the Food and Drug Administration headquarters in Maryland, the panel voted 19-10 to make it tougher to access hydrocodone painkillers such as Vicodin.
December 19, 2012
A bill meant to provide relief for nursing home residents who need painkillers would create the possibility of huge penalties for healthcare practitioners and long-term care facilities, a top lobbyist warned yesterday.
The West Virginia woman who robbed a nursing home at gunpoint back in May while dressed as a clown pleaded guilty this week.
Companies that manufacture opioid painkillers must underwrite training and educational programs for the physicians who prescribe them, according to a new federal safety measures announced Monday.
The latest act in an ongoing circus around a gun-toting clown who robbed a nursing home played out in federal court Tuesday.
June 13, 2012
A proposed reclassification of painkillers is one more example of how the long-term care setting gets left out of policy discussions, and frail elders will pay the price.
May 08, 2012
Top U.S. lawmakers are concerned that overregulation of prescription pain medications is causing an inadvertent shortage of the controlled — and often necessary — controlled substances.
September 19, 2011
Newly proposed legislation aimed at easing painkiller-dispensing regulations in nursing homes is being loudly condemned by the American Health Care Association.
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.
June 21, 2011
Let's face it: Often there isn't any solid evidence as to why a resident is on a medication. Many times, they came from the previous location on a bucket load of medications and they stay on them.
A person's reaction to a painkiller can be influenced by how a healthcare provider manages the individual's expectations when therapy is administered, a new study finds. Pain experts say the findings could have a big impact on patient care and how drugs are tested.
