New York City Hospitals to Follow New Prescribing Guidelines Intended to Reduce Abuse of Painkillers

To help reduce abuse and overdoses of prescription pain medications, New York City public hospitals will begin following new voluntary guidelines on prescribing. Recommended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Task Force on Prescription Painkiller Abuse, the guidelines limit prescriptions for opioid painkillers written by emergency department providers to a three-day supply for the treatment of acute pain. In addition, the guidelines advise providers to avoid prescribing prescription painkillers for chronic non-cancer pain unless other treatments have been demonstrated to be ineffective. The task force summarized the voluntary guidelines, which were developed by the New York City Health Department, in a January 2013 report. The guidelines will be implemented in all of New York’s public hospitals, reports Bloomberg.com.