Generic drugs are equally effective and safe as brand name pharmaceuticals. Prior authorization for expensive brand names is difficult to obtain and hard to justify. If a brand name is desired, the member will be asked to help provide the rationale for the approval process.
Influenza vaccine is now available in our office. We want to get everyone immunized before Thanksgiving.
Hearing aids are essential devices for many older people, but often are not obtained because of the persistently high expense. I recently explored Costco as a source of high-technology major-brand hearing aids at dramatically lower prices.
Contaminated valsartan antihypertensive medication was discovered and is being recalled. No one is likely to have been injured by the NDMA contamination, but we intend to switch everyone to irbesartan, a comparable medication in the same ARB class that has not shown any contamination issues.
Pap smears and HPV co-testing provide effective early detection of cervical cancer in women. Recent guidelines clarify that the frequency of such testing can be spaced out in most circumstances. Remember that Pap smears do not provide protection against uterine or ovarian cancer. Dr. George Papanicolau developed the test named after him.
AIMOVIG is a new monoclonal antibody preventive treatment for chronic and severe episodic migraine that appears to be effective and safe. This is the first new news in a long time in this field.
Opioid drugs, also called narcotics, are critical medications for relieving acute pain but more problematic when occasionally used for chronic pain. We describe new state regulations concerning opioid prescriptions and monitoring and how it affects you and our practice.
Many recent articles on nutrition and dieting in various publications echoed what I have advised for several decades. I recap 10 of the major takeaways.
Various conditions that are heavily genetically driven, including high cholesterol, blood pressure, and adult diabetes, typically show up in force after age 50. By 55 we often realize we have biologically become our parents, the bad and the good.
Sleeping pills and tranquilizers are commonly requested, used, and appear needed, but there are cognitive and accident risks associated with these drugs. We need to try to find effective but safer alternative therapies.