Satisfaction with care after reducing opioids for chronic pain

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Public Health
• Healthcare Policy

Background:

• Opioid overuse epidemic necessitates reduced prescribing.
• Concerns exist regarding patient satisfaction with decreased opioid access for chronic pain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the association between opioid dose reduction and patient satisfaction in chronic non-cancer pain management.
• To investigate if satisfaction differs based on the provider type during dose reduction encounters.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of 2492 patient encounters (2009-2014).
• Mixed effects regression analyzed opioid dose reduction and unfavorable satisfaction scores.
• Subgroup analysis compared assigned primary care provider (PCP) vs. unassigned provider encounters.

Main Results:

• Opioid dose reduction occurred in 29% of encounters, with 86.4% favorable satisfaction.
• Overall, dose reduction showed a non-significant increase in unfavorable scores (OR, 1.31).
• Unfavorable scores were higher with unassigned providers (OR, 1.50) but not with assigned PCPs (OR, 1.16).

Conclusions:

• Reducing opioid use for chronic pain is generally not linked to lower patient satisfaction.
• Opioid dose reduction during encounters with unassigned providers may be associated with slightly lower satisfaction.