Patient motivators to use opioids for acute pain after emergency care.

Introduction: Patients are stakeholders in their own pain management. Factors motivating individuals to seek or use opioids therapeutically for treatment of acute pain are not well characterized but could be targeted to reduce incident iatrogenic opioid use disorder (OUD). Emergency departments (EDs) commonly encounter patients in acute pain for whom decisions regarding opioid therapy are required.

TransitionRx: Impact of community pharmacy postdischarge medication therapy management on hospital readmission rate.

Objectives: To determine if a community pharmacy-based transition of care (TOC) program that included the full scope of medication therapy management (MTM) services (TransitionRx) decreased hospital readmissions, resolved medication-related problems, and increased patient satisfaction.

Design: Prospective, quasi-experimental study.

Setting: Nine Kroger Pharmacies located in Western Cincinnati.

Is there an association between immunosuppressant therapy medication adherence and depression, quality of life, and personality traits in the kidney and liver transplant population?

Objectives: To measure the association of transplant patients' personality, depression, and quality of life with medication adherence in kidney and liver transplant recipients.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of liver and kidney transplant recipients greater than 1 year post-transplant was conducted. Patients' adherence with medications was assessed using the Immunosuppressive Therapy Adherence Scale.

Long-term Medicaid excess payments from alleged price manipulation of generic lorazepam.

Background: Cost savings from the use of generic drugs versus brand-name drugs are well known. Both private and public prescription drug plans encourage the use of generic drugs through a variety of mechanisms. The magnitude of cost savings for a given generic drug is dependent on the degree to which the generic market is competitive.

Utilization, spending, and price trends for benzodiazepines in the US Medicaid program: 1991-2009.

Background: Although it is well-known that drug costs in the US have risen precipitously over the last 25 years, what is much less appreciated is how this rise in cost has occurred across so many seemingly distinct drug markets.

Objective: To describe trends in the utilization, spending, and average per-prescription cost of benzodiazepines individually, in subgroups, and overall, in the Medicaid program. Medicaid has been the primary public payer for benzodiazepines over the past 2 decades.

Evidence-based prediction of statin use with lipid-panel data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Objectives: This study compared actual use of individual statin drugs to expected use based on their efficacy and safety profiles.

Methods: Five panels covering the years 1999 to 2008 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey provided interview, demographic, and laboratory data for 8769 (365,503,838 weighted) people aged 20 years or older who were not taking a statin medication. An individual's risk for coronary heart disease and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol goal were determined, following the Adult Treatment Panel III Cholesterol Guidelines.