Prescribing

Investigators tracked the use of COVID-19 medications in 11 U.S. nursing home chains, describing prescribing patterns that shed new light on the challenges of pandemic clinical care.

A “healthy proportion” of surveyed neurologists have already begun prescribing the treatment, and nearly all said they planned to do so if traditional FDA approval is granted.

The FDA on Wednesday made it easier for clinicians to prescribe these antiviral drugs in cases where transmission is evident and the patient is at high risk of severe illness.

Seniors are willing to take their doctor’s advice to discontinue an unneeded medication after viewing an educational video, investigators say.

Antipsychotics prescribing rates, for example, ranged from 62% for hospice beneficiaries in Oregon to 15% in Oklahoma, investigators say. Five states topped the prescriptions list.

Polypharmacy and the use of drugs with sedative or anticholinergic properties were tied to increased odds of functional disability and the need for LTC services.

Draft revisions no longer include specific dosage ceilings. This and other changes address controversial elements of the older guidance and highlight clinicians’ roles in opioid prescribing decisions.

Many clinicians participating in the Medicare Part D program have continued to prescribe warfarin over direct-acting oral anticoagulants, despite evidence that the latter drugs are safer and more effective...

Antipsychotic and anti-anxiety prescribing in nursing homes may have an effect on prescribing in local and affiliated assisted living communities, investigators have found.

Physicians’ scores on a general knowledge exam were tied to inappropriate prescribing for seniors … Two senior leaders leave FDA over U.S. vaccine decision-making … More states to roll out digital...