據報導：有七百位醫生所開的處方可能有害 (1)

Report: 700 doctors wrote possibly harmful Medicare prescriptions

據報導：有七百位醫生所開的健保處方可能有害 (1)

More than 700 doctors nationwide wrote prescriptions for elderly and disabled patients in highly questionable and potentially harmful ways, according to a report of Medicare’s drug program released Thursday.

全國超過700位醫生為年老或殘障病人，所開的處方具高度的被質疑和有潛在的危險性，依星期四老人保險處的藥物計劃所發佈的一份報告稱。

The review by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services flags those doctors as “very extreme” in their prescribing and says Medicare should do more to investigate or stop them.

由健康服務局的檢查長所發表的評論，認為這些醫生所開药方時是『十分極端』，並且提及健保局會進一調查他們並加以阻止。

The study mirrors a ProPublica investigation published in The Washington Post last month. That report found that Medicare (註)had not protected patients from doctors and other health-care professionals prescribing large quantities of potentially harmful, disorienting or addictive drugs.

(註) ：美國人一般民眾須年滿65歲退休人員，才能加入。

這項研究反應出上個月，華盛頓郵報所刊登的有益健康的一項調查。這份報告發現老人健保局，並未保護病人或防止醫療人員，開出大量具潛在危險性、方向不正確與會上癮的藥物。

Medicare’s prescription drug program was started in 2006 and accounts for about one of every four drugs dispensed nationwide. Last year, the government spent $62 billion subsidizing the drugs of 32 million people.

健保局的藥物計劃是在2006成立，並約佔每四種全國性所調劑的药物之一。去年政府花掉620億元來補貼3,200萬人的藥品費用。

“Strong oversight of the Medicare prescription drug program is critical for protecting patients from harm,” Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) said in an e-mail.

民主黨(德拉瓦州選出)参議員Thomas Carper在e-mail中說，『健保局强而有力的監督健保局的藥物計劃，對保護患者不受傷害是十分重要的』

Carper chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has scheduled a hearing Monday about prescription abuse in the Medicare program, known as Part D.

卡波参議員是，参院國土安全局和政府部們委員會的召集人，該委員會已經訂於星期一開公聽會，討論有關又稱Part D (處方藥品保險) 的健保局有關濫開處方之事。

The inspector general’s report focused on the prescribing by nearly 87,000 general-care physicians, such as family practitioners and internists, in urban and suburban areas in 2009. These doctors accounted for about half of all the prescribing in the program that year.

檢查總長的報告集中於，由8萬7千位一般科醫師所開的處方，這些醫師包括在2009年在城市與郊區開業家庭科與內科醫師。這些醫師占了在當年計劃中，大約所有處方的一半。

 The review found more than 2,200 doctors whose records stood out in one of several areas: prescriptions per patient, brand-name drugs, painkillers and other addictive drugs, or the number of pharmacies that dispensed their orders.

 這份調查發現，超過2,200位醫師的記錄，在下列若干項中有一項中很突出：每位病人的處方中都有名牌藥品(註) 、止痛藥和其他會成癮的藥品、或配方調劑的藥局數目。

(註) ：brand-name drugs指有品牌的藥品，價格較高；另一種為generic 普通 (成份相同，藥名不同但售價較亷) 藥品-美國國內的Rite-aid便利商店均販售這種葯，如Voltaren (服他寧) 止痛劑，其generic 名稱為Diclofenac。

Of those, 736 were flagged as “extreme outliers.” Their patterns, the report says, raised questions about whether the prescriptions were “legitimate or necessary.”

在其中有736位被標明為『很偏遠地區的醫生』。報告說，他們的型式曾引起質疑，是否他們的處方是『合法或必要的』。

For instance, 24 doctors wrote more than 400 prescriptions for at least one patient, including refills dispensed. One Ohio physician did so more than a dozen times, according to the report. The average doctor wrote 13 per patient.

例如有24位醫師至少為一位患者，開出超過400次的處方，包括調劑過的連續處方。據報告，一位俄亥俄州醫師超過12次曾經這麼做過。而一般醫師開給每一位病人平均13次。

In another case, an Illinois doctor had prescriptions filled by 872 pharmacies in 47 states and Guam. General-care doctors, on average, had prescriptions for all their Medicare patients filled by 52 pharmacies.

在另一案例中，一位伊利諾州的醫師，開出的藥方，由47州和關島共872家藥局為他配藥。平均一般科的醫師有57家藥局，為他們的老人健保的患者配藥。(待續)

Justin Lai, 07/06/2013

Jlai77168@gmail.com

chiayihischool@gmail.com

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