Not long ago Dr. Bill Sullivan, an emergency-room physician in rural Spring Valley, Ill., refused to prescribe a potentially habit-forming painkiller to a patient that had requested it by name. That might seem like a good thing since opioid addiction has become a national epidemic. But in fact, as a result of reforms put in place under the Affordable Care Act, he may have put his hospital at financial risk.
As part of an Obamacare initiative meant to reward quality care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is allocating some $1.5 billion in Medicare payments to hospitals based on criteria that include patient-satisfaction surveys. Among the questions: “During this hospital stay, how often did the hospital staff do everything they could to help you with your pain?” And: “How often was your pain well controlled?”...
