Category: Pain Medicine
Ten ERs in Colorado tried to curtail opioids and did better than expected
The goal was for the group of hospitals to reduce opioids by 15 percent. Instead, the hospitals did much better: opioid prescriptions went down 36 percent on average.
In bid to control opioid epidemic, doctors warn patients to expect to feel some pain
Doctors at some of the largest U.S. hospital chains admit they went overboard with opioids to make people as pain-free as possible, and now they shoulder part of the blame for the nation’s opioid crisis. In an effort to be part of the cure, they’ve begun to issue an uncomfortable warning to patients: You’re going to feel some pain.
Liquid Gold: Pain Doctors Soak Up Profits By Screening Urine For Drugs
Drug testing, driven by the nation’s epidemic of painkiller addiction, generates profits across the doctor-owned network of 54 clinics, the largest pain-treatment practice in the Southeast. Medicare paid the company at least $11 million for urine and related tests in 2014, when five of its professionals stood among the nation’s top billers.
Mayo Pain Expert: Holistic approach helps patients ditch opioids
Instead of a purely medical approach, the program takes a “biopsychosocial approach,” which recognizes that psychological and social variables contribute to how people experience pain.
In pain? Many doctors say opioids are not the answer
By Emily Bazar Kaiser Health News Those of you who have experienced pain, especially gnawing, chronic pain, know that it affects your happiness, outlook and ability to function. In the past couple of years, the treatment of chronic pain has undergone an earthshaking transformation as opioid addiction continues to claim — and ruin — lives. Many […]
