Drug Dispensing in Nursing Homes

Senate hearing to examine crackdown on dispensing drugs in nursing homes.
The New York Times (3/24, B2, Wilson) reports that the Senate Special Committee on Aging "will hear complaints on Wednesday from nursing home operators, doctors, nurses and pharmacists that a Drug Enforcement Administration narcotics crackdown has left seriously ill patients crying for pain relief" by "upend[ing] many years of practice in which the government informally allowed nurses to speed the process by taking doctors' orders orally, or from medical charts, and passing them along to pharmacies, similar to the procedures used in hospitals." The groups argue that this has left nursing home residents in pain for hours or even days. However, the DEA responds that "it is merely enforcing the law that requires pharmacies to wait for prescriptions that are signed by physicians,"
The Wall Street Journal (3/24, Pérez) reports that Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) said in a statement, "Vulnerable patients have at times been left to languish in pain." However, in a letter to lawmakers in December, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said that the prior arrangement "trivialize[s] the doctor-patient relationship and weaken[s] the quality of care for the frail and infirm," citing times that nurses faxed or called in prescriptions without a doctor's knowledge.