Pain management services are provided under the general direction of the Medical Director of SMMC. Such care includes the assessment and treatment of chronic pain syndrome. Comprehensive pain management is a service being offered at the SMMC for the past year. Barry Rosen, M.D. is highly recognized in the fields of pain management and addiction treatment. He is the Medical Director and CEO of the Sequoia Center. In September 2006, he established a multidisciplinary team including: a licensed medical social worker, a psychologist, and a nurse practitioner to work with SMMC staff to run pain management services to serve County residents suffering with chronic pain and addiction.
The establishment of a pain management service is a cost containment approach for the assessment and treatment of patients with chronic pain syndrome, including back pain, headaches, cancer, and rheumatologic pain and those patients with concurrent substance abuse issues. A multidisciplinary team provides specific medical and behavioral health services while measuring outcome-based results analyzing frequency of Emergency Department (ED) visits, hospitalization, and improved patient quality of life and functionality,
The results compiled for the first two quarters followed the 53 patients admitted to the Pain Management Clinic (PMC) in the first quarter. From the first to second quarter, for these 53 patients there was a 30% decrease in their ED visits, a 29% decrease in their medical/ specialty clinics and a 56% increase in their psychiatric service use. Across all SMMC services there was an 11% decrease (including the increase in psychiatric services). In addition, there was a 22% decrease in PMC use among these patients from the first to the second quarter. In addition, there was 89.2% patient satisfaction with overall PMC services.
The PMC will continue to evaluate the impact of the program on patients, SMMC service utilization for these patients and the 12 month report will also include an analysis of healthcare costs 12 months prior to PMC referral and the costs during the months after they have received treatment.
The Agreement includes all provisions that are required by county ordinance and administrative memoranda, including but not limited to insurance, hold harmless, non-discrimination, equal benefits and jury service policy.
Risk Management and County Counsel have approved the Agreement.
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