Insights
The Sounding Board
Ideas and inspirations for the managed care industry
My Way, Right Now
January 20, 2020
How quickly do you get frustrated with slow service? Whether you are waiting a little longer for your food to be served at a restaurant, or even waiting on that red light that took forever this morning on the way to work, our patience continues to lessen.
Destination Care
January 13, 2020
Destination care, centers of excellence, medical tourism, benefit driven travel and geographically recognized care centers – mean what exactly? And if the concept is quickly growing in popularity for group health patients, can it be applied for workers’ compensation claimants too?
Why use anticonvulsants to treat pain?
January 6, 2020
A fuller awareness of the risks, costs, and consequences of opioid medication use in clinical pain management is growing, and the search for safe, effective, and affordable alternatives to them has taken on new urgency. The quest for opioid alternatives that offer a measure of effective analgesia (without craving, tolerance, and addiction) is taking on an increased priority in discovery laboratories and across the ranks of practicing clinicians and other health care professionals. Beyond new discovery, another potential source of such alternatives is in reevaluating existing medications approved for pain as well as those approved for other uses that may also hold promise for use as analgesics.
In workers’ comp, the topics we talk about will continue to broaden in 2020
December 31, 2019
When thinking about the future, one often looks back, determines what might not have been accomplished and adds things that haven’t been attempted. In workers’ comp, it can often feel like we deal with the same challenges over and over and are disappointed that things aren’t moving fast enough. Some topics have been mainstays in the industry. Think of opioid use, misuse, and abuse; return-to-work programs; ergonomics and safety; new and improved approaches to case management.
2019 Recap
December 23, 2019
As we wrap up the year, we’d like to thank everyone who supported The Sounding Board blog in 2019. The official launch took place in July and since then we have shared 47 posts.
Warnings about impurities in Zantac® and blood pressure medicines
December 16, 2019
In September 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported the discovery of low levels of an impurity in brand, generic, and over- the-counter (OTC) versions of a popular heartburn medication, Zantac® (Ranitidine HCl) 1, prompting a flurry of manufacturer recalls, national distribution halts, and product removals from retail pharmacy shelves. Ranitidine is an H2 (Histamine-2) blocker approved as a prescription medicine for treatment and prevention of GI ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). OTC versions are approved for relief of acid indigestion and sour stomach. H2 blockers (like Tagamet, Pepcid, and Zantac) act by reducing the amount of acid produced by cells lining the stomach.
What moved the state of Ohio to drop OxyContin® from their formulary?
December 9, 2019
The state of Ohio, among the hardest hit in the nation for opioid overdose deaths, has undertaken a number of measures to meet the crisis as it has evolved. A review of opioid use in the injured worker population, completed in 2011, revealed an alarming number (73%) were filling opioid prescriptions.1 A closed formulary, expanded access to antidote products (naloxone), and opioid focused prescribing guidelines have all followed since and have contributed to some reductions in prescribing and the prevalence of opioid use.
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