Important pain management news from The Joint Commission about the upcoming pain assessment and management standards. These moves are the latest by the healthcare accreditor to change the way patients are monitored and cared for when they have pain.
The Joint Commission, accreditor for thousands of U.S healthcare facilities, is revising pain “assessment and management standards” for behavioral health care, home care and nursing care center programs in the wake of the nation’s opioid crisis.The moves are the latest by the healthcare accreditor to change the way patients are monitored and cared for when they have pain. Hospitals, outpatient care facilities and medical care providers have been criticized for their role in the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic for overprescribing prescription drugs without considering other treatment strategies.
“Effective July 1, 2019, new and revised pain assessment and management standards will be applicable to Joint Commission-accredited behavioral health care, home care and nursing care center programs,” the Joint Commission said Wednesday in announcing the new standards. “The program-specific standards follow new and revised pain assessment and management requirements for hospitals, ambulatory health care organizations, critical access hospitals and office-based surgery practices that The Joint Commission introduced earlier this year.”
Click here for the rest of the Forbes article by Bruce Japsen Senior Contributor, Health Care