DUBLIN, Ohio, July 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With
philanthropic investments from the Cardinal Health Foundation's
Generation Rx program, 10 healthcare organizations across the
country will create measurable action plans designed to modify
opioid prescribing, increase patient engagement and improve
outcomes for patients suffering from chronic, non-cancer pain. The
pain management initiatives will help healthcare organizations
better engage healthcare providers, patients and caregivers to
reduce the number of opioids prescribed for pain.
"Each of the organizations selected for funding share our goal
of improving overall quality of care, increasing patient engagement
and minimizing or finding alternatives to prescription opioids,"
says Dianne Radigan, vice president
of Community Relations at Cardinal Health. "We're pleased to
support our grant recipients as they develop innovations in care
for chronic pain patients; our hope is for their best practices in
pain management to cascade to other healthcare systems around the
country to help reduce opioid dependency."
Each grantee received $34,000 to
$35,000 to support their prescriber education and patient
engagement initiatives over the next year. The grantees include
large hospital systems, a children's hospital, a
federally-qualified health center, a free medical clinic and a
college of pharmacy. Each organization will measure progress in
terms of pain management, patient satisfaction and total number and
potency of opioids prescribed.
2017 Grant Recipients: Best Practices in Pain Management
Projects
- Advocate Health Care, Downers Grove,
Ill.: PAIN POINTS: Process Improvement in the
Perioperative Surgical Home to Promote Patient-Centered Pain
Management and Reduce Risk of Opioid Dependencies
- Johnstown Free Medical Clinic, Johnstown, Pa.: Pain Management, Risk
Reduction
- The MetroHealth Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio: Reducing Opioid
Prescriptions for Patients in the Emergency Department for Acute
Pain
- New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center,
New York, N.Y.: Weill Cornell
Multi-Disciplinary Opioid Optimization and Reduction
Program
- Penobscot Community Health Center, Inc., Bangor, Maine: Chronic Pain Management and
Controlled Substance Stewardship in a Federally Qualified Health
Center
- Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital,
Columbus, Ohio: Reduction of
Opioids Prescribed for Pediatric Patients and Improving Opioid
Safety Education
- Seventh-Day Adventists Loma Linda
University Medical Center, Inc., Loma Linda, Calif.: NO PAIN (Negating
Opioids and Pain Actively through INtervention) Program
- Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation, Tuba City, Ariz.: Opioid Stewardship and
Community Education Initiative
- University of Southern California
School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles,
Calif.: Community Pharmacy-Based Pain Management
- Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Wash.: Better Living through
(Less) Chemistry: Improving Outcomes by Reducing Opioids
Study
Grantees will also participate in a virtual learning
collaborative led by chronic pain pharmacists at the Chronic Pain
Clinic at Geisinger Health in Danville,
Pa. The clinic was established in 2012 to help chronic pain
patients better manage their pain, while providing clinical and
educational support for the health system's physicians.
"As was the norm at the time, the year the clinic opened, a
significant portion of the chronic pain patients seen by Geisinger
physicians received opioid prescriptions," says Gerard Greskovic, R.Ph., Geisinger's director of
Ambulatory Clinical Pharmacy programs. "However, we now know there
is a significant and notable lack of evidence to demonstrate
long-term benefits of opioids. As time goes by, patients can
develop a tolerance to the effects of opioids, leading to a
continual cycle of increasing dosage and a significantly greater
risk of overdose and dependency."
Geisinger's chronic pain pharmacists work with the health
system's primary care physicians to increase safe prescribing, and
find alternative treatment options when appropriate, which include
non-opioid medications, physical therapy, acupuncture and/or
behavioral therapy. The virtual learning collaborative will
emphasize how grantees can implement a similar collaboration with
pharmacists and physicians in their community.
"Pharmacists engage patients in setting achievable pain
management goals," Greskovic says. "We help reset expectations to
be more focused on functionality and quality of life. Some patients
may never be completely pain free, but they may be able to take
their child to the park, walk their daughter down the aisle at her
wedding, or – perhaps - go back to work."
For more information about the Generation Rx program or grant
opportunities from Cardinal Health, please
visit www.CardinalHealth.com/community.
About the Cardinal Health Foundation
The
Cardinal Health Foundation supports local, national and
international programs that improve health care efficiency,
effectiveness and excellence and the overall wellness of the
communities where Cardinal Health, Inc.'s (NYSE:CAH) more than
40,000 employees live and work. The Cardinal Health Foundation also
offers grants to encourage community service among its employees
and works through international agencies to donate much-needed
medical supplies and funding to those who need them in times of
disaster; because Cardinal Health, Inc. is #AllInForGood. To learn
more, visit www.CardinalHealth.com/community and visit the Facebook
page at www.facebook.com/CardinalHealthFoundation.
About Generation Rx
Generation Rx works to end
prescription drug misuse through prevention education, drug take
back, best practices in pain management and community
collaborations. The program was created through a partnership with
the Cardinal Health Foundation and The Ohio
State University College of Pharmacy. Since 2009, more than
one million people across the country have been reached with
Generation Rx messages, and pharmacists in 40 states have been
honored with the Generation Rx Champions Award. To learn more,
visit www.GenerationRx.org.
About Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health, Inc. is a
global, integrated healthcare services and products company,
providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems,
pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and
physician offices worldwide. The company provides clinically proven
medical products and pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions
that enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home.
Cardinal Health connects patients, providers, payers, pharmacists
and manufacturers for integrated care coordination and better
patient management. Because Cardinal Health helps ensure
pharmacists and the consumers they serve have access to medications
they need while working to help prevent prescription drug
diversion, the company's Foundation and its education partners
created Generation Rx, a national program to help prevent the
misuse of prescription medications. Backed by nearly 100 years of
experience, with more than 40,000 employees in nearly 60 countries,
Cardinal Health ranks #15 on the Fortune 500. For more
information, visit cardinalhealth.com, follow @CardinalHealth on
Twitter and connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/
company/cardinal-health.
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/decreasing-the-dosage-to-increase-positive-patient-outcomes-300491854.html
SOURCE Cardinal Health