Post by Logan on Feb 16, 2016 19:21:02 GMT -6
Shortly before vowing last month to control the growing opioid epidemic, Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker eliminated $500,000 in funding for a program designed to curb the inappropriate prescribing of such drugs by physicians.
The legislature had appropriated the funds for Alosa Foundation to distribute clinical information and best prescribing practices to physicians. But the governor took away the money amid $50 million in midyear budget cuts.
The Boston-based non profit runs academic detailing programs, which emerged more than a decade ago as a counterbalance to the commercially driven sales calls made to doctors’ offices. Industry critics complained drug makers are motivated to distribute self-serving medical literature that highlights the uses of their medications, but may not fully incorporate other information that physicians need for providing treatment.
By contrast, academic detailing programs receive government funding in order to provide a more even-handed spectrum of evidence-based material to doctors. A 2007 study by the Cochrane Collaboration, which is an independent network of researchers, health care professionals, and patients, found that academic detailing programs can be effective in improving physician practices in most circumstances.
Read more: www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/02/16/opioid-prescription-drugs-massachusetts/
The legislature had appropriated the funds for Alosa Foundation to distribute clinical information and best prescribing practices to physicians. But the governor took away the money amid $50 million in midyear budget cuts.
The Boston-based non profit runs academic detailing programs, which emerged more than a decade ago as a counterbalance to the commercially driven sales calls made to doctors’ offices. Industry critics complained drug makers are motivated to distribute self-serving medical literature that highlights the uses of their medications, but may not fully incorporate other information that physicians need for providing treatment.
By contrast, academic detailing programs receive government funding in order to provide a more even-handed spectrum of evidence-based material to doctors. A 2007 study by the Cochrane Collaboration, which is an independent network of researchers, health care professionals, and patients, found that academic detailing programs can be effective in improving physician practices in most circumstances.
Read more: www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/02/16/opioid-prescription-drugs-massachusetts/