Undoubtedly, most doctors don't want to contribute to the opioid abuse epidemic sweeping the nation. But they also want to keep their patients satisfied. And often, the only way to satisfy a patient is to give him his fix.
In addition to the human instinct to ease a person's pain, at least in the short term, doctors are under pressure to prescribe powerful painkillers from a provision of the Affordable Care Act that partially bases Medicare payments to hospitals based on patient satisfaction.
Patient satisfaction surveys are only one of a number of factors that shape a hospital's Medicare reimbursement, and the surveys take into account a number of satisfaction measures, including noise and wait times, but they also ask patients to rate how well the provider was able to manage his or her pain.
Recommended For You
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
