VA, Medicare and opioid abuse

#Middlebury #Veterans

Half of veterans who are enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs health care also are signed up with Medicare Part D. What that means is they can get their prescriptions from either the VA or Medicare through a civilian doctor … or too often from both. Until now there has been no way to tell if a veteran was collecting opioids from both sources.

A recent study looked at 200 patients who died and 800 others, categorizing them as VA only, Medicare only or both. Of these, 60 patients who died and 117 control patients had received opioid prescriptions from both sources. They had a much higher chance of dying from drug overdose than those who received drugs from only the VA or Medicare.

Granted, these stats are from 2012 and 2013, but it does indicate a very likely pattern – patients who are able to get painkillers from two sources just might use both.

Now the VA and Medicare have hooked up with a program to monitor drug prescriptions, including opioids. The VA will be able to keep an eye on drugs prescribed by health-care sources outside the VA and will know if anyone has been prescribed double the amount.

What the press release doesn’t say is just how the VA plans to monitor the drug prescriptions. Will it have access to a patient’s file at a civilian doctor? Will it have access to the Medicare computer? Or the pharmacy? Between the doctor, the pharmacy and Medicare, at what point will the VA know what’s being prescribed?

And if a drug is doubly prescribed for a veteran, what is the VA going to do about it?

The biggest question of all: Will this require new computer software at the VA? If so, it could take some time.

© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.