National Insurance Services has partnered with Grand Rounds to help our clients reduce their health insurance claims. In this article, Grand Rounds discusses prescribing headache medications and how the quality of your doctor may affect whether or not you’re prescribed drugs that causes a “medication-overuse headache”.
A headache can be a common ailment and a minor temporary inconvenience. But when it’s upgraded to a migraine or a severe headache, patients often visit their physician. Grand Rounds’ data shows there are large variations in the quality of care when it comes to the treatment of headaches – especially when it comes to prescription medication.
Some doctors make inappropriate, yet common prescribing decisions. These medications do offer short-term relief but can actually lead to increased headache severity and frequency. This is called “medication-overuse” headache.
Medications that have a high risk of medication-overuse headache include opioids and barbiturates. It may surprise you that many physicians are not aware of these side effects. For example, the National Headache Foundation survey found that only 54% of primary care doctors were aware that barbiturates cause medication-overuse headaches.1
Grand Rounds analysis of physician prescribing patterns suggests that the quality of your physician will determine the type of treatment options they use. The bottom ranked (10%) doctors are prescribing these medications more frequently than their higher quality counterparts. Data shows that well-informed doctors are more aware of the risks and use these types of medications only as a last resort (if at all).2
It is well known that over prescription of opioids and barbiturates contributes toward the United States’ current opioid epidemic. And for employees who visit their doctor for relief of common headaches, a prescription medication written by a low-quality physician could lead them down the road towards full blown addiction. Employees and employers alike suffer the consequences of absenteeism, reduced productivity, and medical costs.
Learn more about Grand Rounds data on headache treatment.
Learn more about realize a return on investment by addressing high-cost medical conditions with your employees.
1“NHF Survey – Migraine-Specific Medications vs. Nonspecific Medications for Acute Treatment,” HealthCentral, http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/medications-39685-5_3.html, May 2007.
2Freese, Name. “Low-Quality Doctors Prescribe Significantly More Addictive Medications for Headaches.” Web blog post. Grand Rounds, 3 October 2017. Web. 24 April 2018.
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