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National Patient Safety Week

Safety Tips for Senior Citizens, Caregivers in Managing Drugs

March 9, 2005 - More than 2.3 million drug-related errors adversely affect older Americans each year, often resulting in rush trips to the emergency room, expensive hospitalization and subsequently, the potential decline of a senior citizen’s independence. There are specific precautions that seniors, their adult children and caregivers can take to prevent mishaps related to prescription use, says a company that manages prescription drug benefits.

"Some older Americans, who may be taking six to ten medications at one time, as well as their adult children and caregivers, may be unaware of potentially harmful drug interactions or side effects," said Joseph Addiego, M.D., Prescription Solutions’ chief medical officer. "Safety is also compromised when people try to save money by reducing a dosage, sharing or hoarding drugs, or even not filling a prescription because of the cost. These actions can cause serious health consequences."

Prescription Solutions is a national pharmacy benefit management company that manages prescription drug benefits for millions of older Americans.

National Patient Safety Week is March 6-12, and the experts at Prescription Solutions, including more than 150 pharmacists, nurses and physicians, recommend the following steps for seniors, their families and caregivers to make sure they are using prescription drugs properly and economizing in ways that are safe and not harmful:

  1)  Bring current prescription medications at least once a year to your

       primary care doctor’s office and have them reviewed to verify that

       each medication is still useful and appropriate, and to ensure that

       the combination of medications is safe.

   2)  Store medications properly at home. Most people keep medications in

       the bathroom medicine cabinet, where they can get damp and lose

       potency.  A dry place such as a kitchen cabinet or bedroom is a

       better storage location as long as the medications are out of reach

       of children or safely locked away.

   3)  Keep the appropriate medication in the correct bottle.  Don’t mix

       different medications in the same bottle to save space or for

       traveling, for example.

   4)  Check medications several times a year to make sure they have not

       expired.

   5)  Dispose of old and expired medications properly by flushing them down

       a toilet.  Don’t throw them in the trash where a child might find and

       ingest them.

   6)  Develop a relationship with your local pharmacist to consult with

       questions about the proper use of medications and possible drug

       interactions.  If you are using a mail order pharmacy, you can

       consult with one of the pharmacists by phone.

  7)  For chronic conditions, find out if your benefit program offers a

       mail order pharmacy for refills of medications used to treat them.

       Mail service offers a number of attractive features for seniors, such

       as:

          *  Safety. Because the mail service facility will have a record of

             other prescriptions that you are taking, pharmacists can check

             for potential drug interactions before a drug is dispensed.

          *  Cost savings. By ordering from mail service, seniors can

             receive a 90-day supply of medications for treatments of

             chronic conditions versus the typical 30-days supplied by local

             retail pharmacies, thus saving money by having fewer co-pays

             when prescriptions are filled.

          *  Convenience. Drugs can be ordered from the mail service

             pharmacy by telephone, mail or online - a great convenience for

             many seniors whose mobility may be limited.

   8)  Find out from your pharmacist or physician about the possibility of

       taking generic drugs as opposed to brand-name drugs.  A generic drug

       that is deemed therapeutically equivalent to a brand-name drug may be

       considerably more affordable.

   9)  Check with your health plan or pharmacy to see if they offer other

       cost-saving opportunities such as discount cards for prescriptions or

       over-the-counter medications at the local pharmacy.

  10)  Although it may appear to be an attractive way to save money, do not

       order drugs from unknown Web sites.  Order only from a Web site

       through your own health plan or retail pharmacy that provides

       password protection for its members.  Unknown Internet pharmacies may

       not be licensed or staffed by actual pharmacists, and there are no

       guarantees that the medications will be effective, be the correct

       dose, or even be the drug they are advertised to be.

  About Prescription Solutions

Prescription Solutions is an innovative pharmacy benefit management company managing the prescription drug benefit of commercial, Medicare and governmental health plans, as well as those of employers and unions. A wholly owned subsidiary of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. , one of the nation’s largest consumer health organizations, Prescription Solutions now serves members through a state-of-the-art mail service pharmacy in Carlsbad, Calif., as well as through a national network of 53,000 community pharmacies. Online information can be found at http://www.rxsolutions.com/.

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