Patient satisfaction surveys used by Medicare to help identify good hospitals could be contributing to the “growing epidemic” of abuse of prescription opioid drugs, according to two U.S. senators.
In a letter to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California claim “there is growing anecdotal evidence that these surveys may be having the unintended effect of encouraging practitioners to prescribe (opioid pain relievers) unnecessarily and improperly.”
Under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, a Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program was established to reward acute-care hospitals with incentive payments when they are ranked highly by patients for their quality of care.
Medicare patients are asked to complete surveys asking them whether they needed pain medication, whether their pain was well controlled, and how often hospital staff helped with their pain.
Linking pay with performance was the goal, but according to Sens. Grassley and Feinstein, some doctors have prescribed opioids to improve their scores on the patient satisfaction survey.
“A doctor in South Carolina reportedly cited low patient satisfaction scores as the reason why he prescribed Dilaudid (hydromorphone), a powerful painkiller commonly used to treat cancer pain, to treat a patient’s toothache,” they wrote to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
“Indeed, almost half the members of the South Carolina Medical Association have admitted to prescribing opioids in response to patient survey scores. One hospital with low satisfaction scores even went so far as to offer Vicodin ‘goody bags’ to patients discharged from its emergency room in an effort to improve its scores.”
Now the government is blaming itself for the opiate epidemic.. Of course, back in 2000-2001 Joint Commission made pain management a MAJOR STANDARD – Fifth Vital Sign http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vital_signs
Is it just me.. or is the Feds.. running out of excuses for the reason that people with mental health issues are abusing some substances and we continue to ignore their underlying health issues?
Filed under: General Problems
Here’s where the South Carolina toothache cititng came from…there was a footnote reference at the end of the sentence. I just followed it from the list at the bottom of the page of the letter (the Grassley link referenced). I just googled the author’s name (Falkenberg, Kai) and the magaizine (Forbes) and bingo found it!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kai falkenberg/2013/01/02/why-rating-your-doctor-is-bad-for-your-health/
Your posts about issues are quite biased and are not based on scietific fact. A doctor is south carolina ? Thats how you base your articles and post on ?
I posted this as received.. I don’t get where the quote “A doctor is south carolina” came from.. since that is not in the article – that I can find.. and I do know how to spell scientific and “that is” proper use is That’s.. my grammar may not be the best.. but.. I at least know how to use spell-check !