Drug Prescribing in Home Health Care

About 38% of U.S. adults who get care from a home health agency are taking at least one inappropriate prescription drug, a study finds. The medicines were on a list of drugs that should be used only with great care among older adults. The rate of potential problem drugs was nearly 3 times as high as other studies have shown for people who get care in a doctor’s office. Researchers used data from the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey. The study included 3,100 patients. All were age 65 or older. The average person in the study took 11 prescription drugs. Potential problem drugs were prescribed most often for those who took the most drugs. They were prescribed 5 to 6 times as often for those taking 15 or more drugs as for those taking 7 or fewer. The Journal of General Internal Medicine published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it November 29.