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A2 UP FRONT
Friday 4 November 2022
US agency softens opioid prescribing guidelines for doctors

ceeded in reducing inap-
propriate and dangerous
prescribing, some experts
say. But they also were
seen as a barrier to care,
with some pharmacists re-
fusing to fill prescriptions as
doctors wrote them.
The new guidelines are de-
signed to ensure that pa-
tients get compassionate
and safe pain care, CDC
officials said.
A draft released in February
received 5,500 public com-
ments. Some modifications
were made, but several
main changes stayed in
place, including:
The CDC no longer sug-
gests trying to limit opioid
treatment for acute pain to
three days.
The agency is dropping
the specific recommenda-
tion that doctors avoid in-
creasing dosage to a level
equivalent to 90 milligrams
This June 17, 2019, file photo shows 5-mg pills of Oxycodone. The nation’s top public health agency on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022,
revised its controversial guidelines for U.S. doctors prescribing oxycodone and other opioid painkillers. of morphine per day.
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File) For patients receiving high-
er doses of opioids, the
By Mike Stobbe codone and other opioid opioid painkiller prescrip- that began more than two CDC is urging doctors to
Associated Press painkillers. The Centers for tions. Opioids painkillers decades ago. Other drugs not abruptly halt treatment
NEW YORK (AP) — The na- Disease Control and Pre- can be addictive — even have overtaken them in unless there are indications
tion’s top public health vention new recommen- when used under doctors’ overdose statistics, and il- of a life-threatening dan-
agency on Thursday soft- dations are an update to orders — and were identi- licit fentanyl is now the big- ger. The agency offers sug-
ened its guidelines for U.S. 2016 guidelines that added fied as a big reason for a gest driver of deaths. gestions on tapering pa-
doctors prescribing oxy- momentum to a decline in rise in U.S. drug overdoses The previous guidance suc- tients off the drugs.q

Army probes whether troops wrongly targeted in bonus scandal

Continued from Front Guard missed its recruiting wars in order to fill the ranks. triggered a backlash from permit. Soldiers can request
goal for the fiscal year that In the program, which was Congress, as soldiers com- a review of their case, and
“CID is fully committed to ended Sept. 30, and more run by contractors, soldiers plained that they were be- already dozens have done
identifying and correcting soldiers were leaving each were offered $2,000 if they ing wrongfully targeted. In so. The CID review will de-
all records to align with the month than the number referred someone to re- 2016, Defense Secretary termine if soldiers’ names
documentation and evi- enlisting. “By putting the cruiters who ended up ac- Ash Carter ordered the should be removed from
dence present in case file,” right checks and balances tually enlisting. Pentagon to suspend the either database, officials
Ford told reporters on Thurs- in place, we could really Audits found overpay- effort to recoup the enlist- said, and the individuals will
day. “CID takes our respon- help make every single ments, fraud by recruit- ment bonuses, which in be notified of the results.
sibilities in this area very seri- guardsman a recruiter by ers and others and poor some cases totaled more Officials said that each
ously. And it is clear that we paying them a bonus for oversight. The program than $25,000. Officials ar- case is different, and it’s
fell short in a large number anybody that they bring was canceled in 2012, and gued at the time that many not clear how many — if
of these investigations. ” into the organization that’s Army CID was called in to soldiers getting the bonuses any — could receive any
The new investigation able to complete their mili- investigate the cases. weren’t aware the pay- compensation, back pay
comes as National Guard tary training,” Gen. Dan Between 2012 and 2016, ments were improper or not or other retroactive ben-
Bureau leaders are pushing Hokanson, chief of the Na- CID opened about 900 authorized. Overall, offi- efits. The entire process
to launch another recruit- tional Guard Bureau, told cases. Altogether, officials cials said 1,900 names were could take until spring 2024.
ing bonus program, in an reporters in September. He said, about 286 soldiers re- added to an FBI criminal Hokanson said the previous
attempt to boost lagging said procedures needed to ceived some type of ad- database, and hundreds bonus program worked in
enlistment numbers. And be fixed so that fraud didn’t ministrative punishment or more were listed on an in- that it brought in thousands
they want to ensure that happen again. action from their military ternal Defense Department of recruits, and could work
any new program doesn’t The Army began an audit commanders, and more database as someone who again if properly done.
have similar fraud and of the recruiting program in than 130 were prosecuted was the subject of a crimi- And he said Guard leaders
abuse problems. 2011, amid complaints that in civilian courts. Soldiers re- nal investigation. Such list- around the country would
Guard leaders have talked Guard and Reserve soldiers paid more than $478,000 to ings can hurt a soldier’s like to try something like
about providing incen- and recruiters were fraudu- the U.S. Treasury, and paid career, affect promotions it again. No final decision
tive pay to recruiters and lently collecting bonuses nearly $60,000 in fines, offi- or — in the case of the FBI on launching a new bonus
Guard troops who bring during the peak years of cials said this week. data — prevent someone program has been made,
in new recruits. The Army the Iraq and Afghanistan The repayments, however, from getting a job or a gun according to the Guard.q