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KFF Health News Column Highlights Risks of Overmedicating Older Adults
In her "The New Old Age" column for The New York Times and KFF Health News, Paula Span discusses "deprescribing", the practice of reviewing and reducing unnecessary or harmful medications in older patients. Span, who also appeared on WAMU's Health Hub, cites geriatrician K. Eric De Jonge noting that patients on six or seven prescriptions face nearly a 100% chance of side effects or drug interactions. The piece flags benzodiazepines, antibiotics, and daily aspirin as commonly overused drugs among older adults, and urges patients and caregivers to proactively ask doctors whether long-standing prescriptions are still appropriate given evolving medical evidence.
Why it mattersMedicaid managed care plans serving dual-eligible and aging populations face real exposure to polypharmacy-driven hospitalizations and adverse drug events that deprescribing and medication therapy management programs are designed to prevent.