For advertising information visit www.samplerpublications.com or call 859.225.4466 | April 2015
Addressing the problem
of “doctor shopping”
By Sarah Wilder, Lexington Clinic
It’s no secret that addiction to
prescription drugs is a very real
and dangerous problem in Central
Kentucky. Of all states, Kentucky has
the third highest death rate due to
prescription drug overdose, averaging
more than 1,000 deaths per year. So
raising awareness of this issue, and
the problems that can occur within
the medical community because of
prescription addiction, is something
Brent J. Morris, M.D., Lexington
Clinic orthopedic surgeon, focused
on in a study he published alongside
four other physicians.
In the study, “Narcotic Use and
Postoperative Doctor Shopping in the
Orthopaedic Trauma Population,” Dr.
Morris and colleagues focused specifically on the issue of ‘doctor shopping.’ Doctor shopping occurs when
a patient visits multiple physicians for
the same medical problem and each
physician fills a prescription for pain
medication. As a result, the patient
ends up with an abundance of these
dangerous drugs, and their chances of
becoming addicted to the medication
increases dramatically.
“In our study, we found that
approximately 20 percent of patients
who had orthopedic surgery after
traumatic injuries will ‘doctor shop’
for prescription drugs following
their procedure and this behavior is
more likely to occur if the patient is
taking pain medicine before their surgery,” said Dr. Morris. Additionally,
according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, for every
100 people in the state of Kentucky,
there are 96 to 143 pain medication
prescriptions. This means some of
those prescriptions are for the same
person, and most likely, are a sign of
prescription drug abuse.
Statistics like this are the reason
that prescription tracking programs,
such as KASPER – the Kentucky
All Schedule Prescription Electronic
Reporting, the nation’s first such
program, are in place. This program
tracks a specific prescription each
time it is filled, and allows physicians
and pharmacis