I have two relatives that died from prescription opioid addiction and abuse and I don't think a few payments here and there is what motivates doctors to prescribe these drugs at a higher rate. Maybe it does maybe not. The fact is they are powerful drugs that can stop pain AND they make LOTS of money so they get pushed as the best option.
The thing that is in question in a doctors mind is, can I say this is the best option. Thats what the face-time with reps, meals, conferences etc are doing, giving the MD a perception that this is best practice. It's the professional cover to prescribe what everyone knows is a highly addictive and dangerous narcotic.
If the same kind of money were spent on informing, reminding and reminding again, face-time with addiction prevention advocates, conferences on the opioid epidemic, payments for speaking on alternatives to opioids for pain treatment, giving doctors the facts about these drugs, the addiction and death rates, the impact on families and communities of the inevitable proportion of people who will become addicted and of those who will die, it will be much much harder to say this is a best practice.
But even then doctors are pushed hard to deal with as many patients as possible. A quick answer that deals with the immediate problem is what the patient wants and its all the doc has time and support from the system to give. This situation lends itself to the potential for those who truly benefit, the makers of these drugs, to take advantage of the situation and push drugs they know will make people addicted leading to higher use and profits. Lost lives and destroyed families be damned.
The thing that is in question in a doctors mind is, can I say this is the best option. Thats what the face-time with reps, meals, conferences etc are doing, giving the MD a perception that this is best practice. It's the professional cover to prescribe what everyone knows is a highly addictive and dangerous narcotic.
If the same kind of money were spent on informing, reminding and reminding again, face-time with addiction prevention advocates, conferences on the opioid epidemic, payments for speaking on alternatives to opioids for pain treatment, giving doctors the facts about these drugs, the addiction and death rates, the impact on families and communities of the inevitable proportion of people who will become addicted and of those who will die, it will be much much harder to say this is a best practice.
But even then doctors are pushed hard to deal with as many patients as possible. A quick answer that deals with the immediate problem is what the patient wants and its all the doc has time and support from the system to give. This situation lends itself to the potential for those who truly benefit, the makers of these drugs, to take advantage of the situation and push drugs they know will make people addicted leading to higher use and profits. Lost lives and destroyed families be damned.