Group asks CMS to remove pain questions from hospital survey

Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing sent a letter to acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt requesting that CMS remove a set of questions from a patient satisfaction survey about pain treatment, saying the questions "have had the unintended consequence of encouraging aggressive opioid use in hospitalized patients and upon discharge."

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is designed to collect data about a patient's perspective of care during a hospital stay. CMS uses hospitals' scores on the survey to help determine reimbursement rates. ...