Five pain management physicians discuss best practices in their pain management clinics, including switching to electronic medical records, developing quality outcomes databases and gathering patient feedback to improve center performance.
Moshe Lewis, MD, MPH, California Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco, Calif.): The best practice that we follow is to incorporate the electronic medical record into all aspects of the practice. As large as an undertaking that this was, it has helped with patient flow, information retrieval and documentation overall. The challenge is to make sure that the information in the note is updated, accurate and timely.
Timothy Spencer, DO, Saginaw (Mich.) Valley Neurosurgery: Opioid abuse has been present since man first began using the medications. In our practice, we utilize pain management services, neurosurgery, primary care physicians, pharmacists and neuropsychiatry in concert to monitor and manage pain and narcotic use.
Joseph G.A. Ibrahim, MD, FAAPMR, founder, New Jersey Spine and Pain Institute (Bayonne, N.J.): I ask the patients, personally, how they were treated by the office staff. If a patient needs authorization for certain treatment, the staff will complete it in timely fashion. We started implementing a questionnaire so patients can voice their opinion to increase patient satisfaction. There is a biweekly staff meeting to address the staff's as well as the patients' concerns, if any, and to further ensure smoothness of the patient flow.
Ronald DeMeo, MD, MBA, anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist, Meridian Spine & Interventional Pain Medicine (Coral Gables, Fla.): We try to focus our system around the patient themselves, where the patient is the center of the wheel, and we have to create different spokes around the patient.
Gennady Gekht, MD, Coastal Pain and Rehabilitation (Bradenton, Fla.): Quality measure outcomes and tracking is essential. We're working on establishing a computer database by which we can track those outcomes. If needed and when needed, we can present that database of outcomes to insurers to validate. The quality measure outcomes are the future of medicine and not just in pain management but across all lines. Any specialty will need to be able to track the outcomes of their treatment. This is being dictated by a scarcity of public dollars for procedures and by highly educated consumers who are no longer looking for a nice doctor but who are looking for great outcomes.
Physician's Third Pain Management Clinic to Open in Simi Valley
Medicaid, Insurers Denied Access to Colorado Prescription Drug Registry
Moshe Lewis, MD, MPH, California Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco, Calif.): The best practice that we follow is to incorporate the electronic medical record into all aspects of the practice. As large as an undertaking that this was, it has helped with patient flow, information retrieval and documentation overall. The challenge is to make sure that the information in the note is updated, accurate and timely.
Timothy Spencer, DO, Saginaw (Mich.) Valley Neurosurgery: Opioid abuse has been present since man first began using the medications. In our practice, we utilize pain management services, neurosurgery, primary care physicians, pharmacists and neuropsychiatry in concert to monitor and manage pain and narcotic use.
Joseph G.A. Ibrahim, MD, FAAPMR, founder, New Jersey Spine and Pain Institute (Bayonne, N.J.): I ask the patients, personally, how they were treated by the office staff. If a patient needs authorization for certain treatment, the staff will complete it in timely fashion. We started implementing a questionnaire so patients can voice their opinion to increase patient satisfaction. There is a biweekly staff meeting to address the staff's as well as the patients' concerns, if any, and to further ensure smoothness of the patient flow.
Ronald DeMeo, MD, MBA, anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist, Meridian Spine & Interventional Pain Medicine (Coral Gables, Fla.): We try to focus our system around the patient themselves, where the patient is the center of the wheel, and we have to create different spokes around the patient.
Gennady Gekht, MD, Coastal Pain and Rehabilitation (Bradenton, Fla.): Quality measure outcomes and tracking is essential. We're working on establishing a computer database by which we can track those outcomes. If needed and when needed, we can present that database of outcomes to insurers to validate. The quality measure outcomes are the future of medicine and not just in pain management but across all lines. Any specialty will need to be able to track the outcomes of their treatment. This is being dictated by a scarcity of public dollars for procedures and by highly educated consumers who are no longer looking for a nice doctor but who are looking for great outcomes.
Related Articles on Pain Management:
Few California Pain Physicians Use State Drug DatabasePhysician's Third Pain Management Clinic to Open in Simi Valley
Medicaid, Insurers Denied Access to Colorado Prescription Drug Registry