New opioid use high among older adults with COPD

February 12, 2016 Canadian researchers have documented a disturbing trend of new opioid use—and, potentially, overuse—among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) living in elder care settings. From 2003–12, they tracked 107,109 community-dwelling...

Making preferred cost sharing pharmacies more available

February 12, 2016 CMS is working to improve Medicare beneficiaries’ access to benefits, writes Sean Cavanaugh, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare at CMS. He notes that while there had been some concern that some beneficiaries did not...

Tiny doses of opioid could be first fast anti-suicide drug

February 12, 2016 With millions of Americans either committing suicide each year or contemplating it, there are high hopes for what could become the first rapid-onset anti-suicide drug. Early evidence suggests that buprenorphine, an opioid analgesic, can curb suicidal...