Painkiller Prescriptions Cut by Blue Cross

If you’re involved in a personal injury accident serious painkillers are often a necessity. But with these drugs come risks – the risk of abuse and overdose are great with many of these narcotics.

Further, physicians and health care providers are starting to see these drugs as gateways for more powerful and addictive narcotics like heroin. And with millions of individuals taking these drugs every year, a serious concern has arisen about their use and potential for abuse.

So, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, Blue Cross, has cut prescriptions of many of these painkillers by an estimated 6.6 million pills in the past 18 months.

Blue Cross was able to achieve this reduction under a new program. One that has been in place since July 2012. Under this new program patients must seek authorization from Blue Cross for more than a 30 days supply of painkillers like Percocet within a two-month period. This step has reduced prescriptions by 20 percent for common opioids and reduced prescriptions by 50 percent for more powerful narcotics like OxyContin.

We think this is a step in the right direction. As personal injury attorneys, who deal with injury victims who often require long term pain treatment, we are well aware of the risks associated with these drugs. Any step that can reduce their use while not denying the injured the help they need is a good one from our perspective.

If you would like to read more about this issue click here for an article in the Boston Globe.

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