Pain Management and Palliative Care in the Era of Managed Care: Issues for Health Insurers
Year: 1999
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This article reviews the literature regarding pain management and insurance coverage and reports on the results of an empirical study of medical directors at Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans across the country. The study attempted to assess the directors' awareness of pain management and palliative care as issues for their insured populations and to discover how their plans are dealing with various aspects of the problem. Medical directors at 64% of Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans were interviewed. Significant survey findings included the following: 1) plans deal with pain treatment and coverage/payment issues on a case by case basis (often through case managers) and, for the most part, have not established uniform pain treatment or coverage guidelines; 2) treatment of patients with chronic pain is of concern to more plans than treatment of pain for terminally ill patients; 3) plans are uncertain about who is a qualified pain care provider and how to evaluate the quality of pain centers; 4) a significant number of plans expressed concerns about fraud or inappropriate treatment by pain providers.
Author: Diane E. Hoffmann
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Language: English
Subfield: Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3122022766