07 Dec Helping Patients with Chronic Pain by using Patient Reported Outcomes

Chronic pain for patients is an enormous problem in the United States.

• • • • 50 million adults in the US suffer from chronic pain.
      • Those suffering experience $80 billion in lost wages per year.
      • The number one reason patients see doctors is to alleviate pain.

The question of how to best manage patients’ pain is a difficult one. Use of opioids has come into question and it is often difficult for providers to assess if and how treatments are helping patients.

Providers need better ways to help manage and track patients’ pain and progress, and patients need better ways to report their pain to their doctors outside of scheduled appointments.

DTX Med provides automated pain management modules that providers can use to evaluate patients’ pain levels and treatment progress throughout the care episode. DTX provides the following preset modules to monitor pain therapies for your patients:

• • • • Lumbar Epidural Injection
      • Lumbar Trigger Point Injection
      • Lumbar Facet Block/Medial Branch
      • Lumbar Radiofrequency Ablation
      • Cervical Epidural Injection
      • Cervical Trigger Point Injection
      • Cervical Facet Block/Medial Branch
      • Cervical Radiofrequency Ablation

The surveys assess pain levels, functional disability, pain medication usage and various psychosocial measures. They are automated to be sent to patients, via SMS or email, at specific post-treatment timepoints. Data collection through DTX is not restricted to physical symptoms as any aspect relating to a patient’s quality of life can be collected and analyzed. The care team is immediately alerted of patient issues, and real-time analytics enables providers to instantly analyze aggregate and patient-level data and risk stratify patients.

Increased interactions with your patients, along with consistent outcome monitoring, allow you to optimize treatment and identify high-risk patients to prevent avoidable readmissions. Patients also feel more empowered and become active participants in their care.

Click here to read a case study that shows how one pain management practice, Spine Options, is using DTX to help manage their chronic pain patients.