Prescriptions, other medical treatments, often overused: Report
A new report from the Health Council of Canada says that doctors are inappropriately prescribing drugs and too often ordering diagnostic-imaging tests.
The report, which was to be released Monday, said it’s a situation that is putting patient safety at risk and wasting “precious” health-care funds.
Health Council of Canada CEO John G. Abbott said many Canadians tend to naturally turn toward the prescription-drug route when other options could be more useful and reduce use of prescription medications when they are not absolutely necessary.
“Part of this is that our society has become … hooked on the prescription solution as opposed to maybe more appropriate solutions (such as) diet, exercise or counselling to help improve care,” Abbott said.
“A challenge the physician has is having the time to be able to do a full assessment and come up with a full range of (care) options.
“You need to help physicians improve their practices and clinical skills and then hold them accountable for the decisions they make because they are the gatekeepers to the system. In this report, we’re saying if we better support doctors in their clinical decision-making, we may improve health care, but also reduce . . . costs.”
The report suggests doctors need improved tools, such as an electronic patient database, to help them consider other factors when diagnosing patients.
“To assist physicians with appropriate prescribing for safe and effective patient care, electronic decision-support tools and mechanisms for prescribing need to be in place, and resources need to be made available to our gatekeepers,” the report reads.
It cites 2009 data from the Canadian Disease and Therapeutic Index, which showed the majority of patients in Canada who visited the doctor for specific health reasons – including hypertension, diabetes, depression, anxiety and cholesterol concerns – left the doctor’s office with either a prescription, a drug sample or advice to use an over-the-counter product.
The report, which said hard data is not available to determine an ideal rate of prescription or diagnostic-image use, also highlighted the need for increased data collection in the health system to help physicians in their duties.
“It’s the physician . . . who (determines) the best course of treatment, but how he or she makes that decision needs to be reviewed, challenged, and – more importantly – supported, so that he or she has the proper infrastructure in place.”
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