New Approach to Pain Management Mandated

Healthcare providers will now be required to assess and better manage patient pain, as a result of new standards adopted by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in July, 2000. JCAHO is the organization that reviews all areas of healthcare delivery, and accredits those that meet quality standards.

The new pain management standards require health care providers to assess pain when patients are initially diagnosed, and do ongoing reassessments of patient pain throughout treatment. The standards also require healthcare providers to educate patients and their families about pain management, and to aggressively manage patients’ pain. Compliance with the standards will be required of all healthcare organizations that seek accreditation from the Joint Commission.

C. Richard Chapman PhD, President of the American Pain Society, estimates that only 30 percent of cancer patients with pain currently get adequate relief.

“Mismanaged pain is costly,” said Chapman. “It causes needless suffering, can extend hospitalization, may provoke additional emergency room and doctor visits, and may partially or completely disable a patient.” He called unrelieved pain a “persisting and unnecessary shortcoming in American healthcare,” and applauded the Joint Commission’s efforts to tackle the problem head on.