Ohio hospitals push for federal help in fighting prescription drug abuse

Representatives of Ohio's children's hospitals visited Capitol Hill this week to seek aid in fighting a growing prescription drug abuse problem that's made drug overdoses Ohio's top cause of death and has dramatically increased the number of babies born addicted to drugs Source: “Ohio hospitals seek federal help to fight prescription drug addiction,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 17, 2015). 

Carrie Baker of the Ohio Children's Hospital Association said the number of drug addicted babies nationwide increased 800 percent between 2004 and 2013. She said a new study estimates that 21,732 babies in the U.S. in 2012 were born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, whose symptoms include feeding trouble, seizures, tremors, low birth weight and vomiting.

Doctors and other specialists at the Senate briefing Wednesday assembled by the Alliance to Prevent the Abuse of Medicines said more needs to be done to monitor prescriptions so that patients can't obtain more drugs than they need by going to multiple doctors and pharmacies.

They spoke in favor of legislation introduced by Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman and Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse that aims to head off prescription drug abuse by Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries by locking them into one prescriber and one pharmacy to reduce doctor and pharmacy shopping. The bill would also provide more resources for drug treatment and recovery.