Low-value Care

New Drug Could Cost the Government as Much as It Spends on NASA

Abstract: The Alzheimer’s treatment will cost $56,000 per patient, and millions may use it. The result: “crazy numbers” for Medicare.

Publication: The New York Times

Date Published: June 22, 2021

Author(s): Josh Katz, Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz

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To eliminate medication overload, serious cultural, educational, and policy changes are needed. This action plan offers recommendations for policymakers, health care institutions, clinicians, and patients across five key categories to reduce harm from multiple medication use. Suggested Citation: Eliminating medication overload: A national action plan. Working Group on Medication Overload. Brookline, MA: The Lown Institute, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46241/LI.YLBW4885

Pharmaceutical marketing is a significant factor in the growing public health crisis of medication overload, which puts millions of older adults at risk of preventable harm and premature death. This issue brief provides recommendations to reduce pharmaceutical industry influence by limiting pharma sales rep visits to clinicians and direct-to-consumer advertising.

This issue brief provides recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and electronic health records that would give clinicians the information they need to appropriately prescribe and deprescribe.