“Patients at three military hospitals were routinely overprescribed opioids during the two-year period from 2015 to 2017.”
“That’s according to a report released this week by the Defense Department’s Inspector General, which found that one patient at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska received 2,450 oxycodone tablets over a 12 month period. Another patient was prescribed 4,750 tablets over a two-year period.”
“Opioids include legally prescribed pain relievers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, and morphine. Heroin, which is illegal, is also classed as an opioid…”
“The objective of the audit was to determine whether selected military treatment facilities overprescribed opioids for DoD beneficiaries. The report concluded that military treatment facilities potentially overprescribed opioids ‘because the DHA (Defense Health Agency) and Military Departments did not have policies and processes in place to identify and monitor beneficiaries who were prescribed over 90 MME (milligrams) per day.’”
“The IG’s report also said that poor record-keeping made it hard to get a handle on the scope of the opioid overprescribing…” Read the full article here.
Source: Three military treatment facilities are overprescribing opioids, IG’s report says – By Julia Ledoux, January 17, 2020. Connecting Vets.
