Opioid drug use is rampant in the U.S. While there are multiple variables, doctors are starting to speak up
on one contributor….Obamacare:
As part of an Obamacare initiative meant to reward quality care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is allocating some $1.5 billion in Medicare payments to hospitals based on criteria that include patient-satisfaction surveys. Among the questions: “During this hospital stay, how often did the hospital staff do everything they could to help you with your pain?” And: “How often was your pain well controlled?”
In a 2014 survey published in Patient Preference and Adherence, over 48% of doctors reported prescribing inappropriate narcotic pain medication because of patient-satisfaction questions. One doctor wrote that drug seekers “are well aware of the patient satisfaction scores and how they can use these threats and complaints to obtain narcotics.”
Read the rest at Time.com
