Report Calls on Government to Evaluate, Coordinate Education on Prescription Drug Abuse

Join Together (1/25/12):  A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) calls on federal agencies to do a better job of coordinating and assessing the effectiveness of their efforts to educate prescribers and the public about prescription drug abuse.  The report notes that while all agencies have established measures to monitor the implementation and functional elements of their education programs, only two agencies have established or are planning to set up ways to evaluate the impact of their efforts on audiences’ knowledge, attitudes and behavior.

“Without outcome evaluations, federal agencies have limited knowledge of how effective their efforts are in achieving their goals — in this case, reducing prescription pain reliever abuse and misuse,” the report notes.

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