When we see a doctor, we want to think that the doctor is deciding on the best care to make us healthy again. But what if that doctor was under pressure to change what he recommends for us? Surely that could not be good for the patients of any doctor under that kind of pressure. Perhaps it could even make some patients worse instead of better.
A news story from Tennessee shows that something as simple as a survey the federal government requires for Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement could set up a series of events that result in more addictive painkillers being prescribed than are needed to treat pain.
When a Medicare or Medicaid patient is seen in the hospital, they must fill out a patient satisfaction survey for the hospital to receive reimbursement for the visit. Three questions on this survey ask how well any pain was controlled and if hospital staff did everything they could to help with that pain. If a patient says that his pain treatment was unsatisfactory, the hospital’s satisfaction scores go down. This score is tied in to the amount of reimbursement the hospital receives. A doctor who consistently scores low will then cost the hospital money and may be fired.
Survey Could Make it Easier for Drug Seekers to Get Pills
This mandatory survey opens the door for those who are abusing or are addicted to painkillers to have easier access to pills. Doctors are expected to be alert for “drug-seeking behavior” – such as a patient who asks for a specific brand or a specific number of pills. If an opiate addict has no other choices, he may take himself to an Emergency Room and claim an injury that is hard to verify on x-rays, just to go home with some pain pills he can abuse. In this case, it’s the doctor’s duty to identify pain-seeking behavior and send a person home without medication.
An Emergency Room doctor in Tennessee stated, “The patient’s not going to rate me very highly in the patient satisfaction survey if I don’t give them what they want.” This doctor went on to explain that he has had hospital administrators ask why he couldn’t “just send the patient home with a few pills” to improve the satisfaction score.
Tennessee Legislators Pursue a Solution
Fortunately, Tennessee State Senator Bill Dunn and US Senator Lamar Alexander have begun the process of evaluating this survey and whether or not it is in the best interests of patients and proper healthcare. Senator Alexander asked the head of Health and Human Services to consider whether this survey creates “inadvertent incentives for prescribing or other behaviors.”
Tennessee has struggled with high levels of abuse and overdose deaths related to both painkiller and heroin abuse. In a recent report, the Drug Enforcement Administration noted that among those who now use heroin, four out of five previously abused prescription drugs.
Eliminating the growing epidemic of opiate and opioid abuse will require sealing off loopholes that enable people to get drugs they will abuse while providing effective methods of recovering from heroin or painkiller addiction. For nearly fifty years, Narconon has been providing recovery from opiate addiction as well as addiction to any other drug. If you care about someone who has been struggling with drugs or alcohol, call us to find out how we can help.
