Adequate Pain Care Sorely Lacking

Managing Pain
A survey of hospitals in 40 metropolitan areas by the Harvard School of Public Health to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that one-third of patients felt that their pain wasn't well controlled.

Region, Pain always controlled

• Albany, N.Y., 66.5 percent
• Atlanta, Ga., 67.2 percent 
• Baltimore, Md., 65.4 percent 
• Birmingham, Ala., 72 percent 
• Boston, Mass., 67.4 percent 
• Camden, N.J., 68.1 percent 
• Charlotte, N.C., 70 percent 
• Chicago, Ill., 63.4 percent 
• Cincinnati, Ohio, 68.2 percent 
• Cleveland, Ohio, 62.2 percent 
• Columbus, Ohio, 67.9 percent 
• Dallas, Texas, 67.8 percent 
• Detroit, Mich., 65.2 percent 
• East Long Island, N.Y., 60.7 percent 
• Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 57.5 percent 
• Houston, Texas, 65.6 percent 
• Indianapolis, Ind., 67.5 percent 
• Kansas City, Mo., 64.9 percent 
• Knoxville, Tenn., 68.3 percent 
• Lexington, Ky., 68.7 percent 
• Little Rock, Ark., 69.4 percent 
• Louisville, Ky., 67.2 percent 
• Los Angeles, Calif., 61.5 percent 
• Memphis, Tenn., 66.7 percent 
• Miami, Fla., 64.3 percent 
• Milwaukee, Wis., 68 percent 
• Minneapolis, Minn., 63.6 percent 
• Nashville, Tenn., 68.9 percent 
• New York, N.Y., 56.9 percent 
• Oklahoma City, Okla., 68.4 percent 
• Orange County, Calif., 64.6 percent 
• Orlando, Fla., 61.2 percent 
• Philadelphia, Pa., 67.3 percent 
• Phoenix, Ariz., 67.1 percent 
• Pittsburgh, Pa., 66.1 percent 
• St. Louis, Mo., 67.3 percent 
• San Bernardino, Calif., 63.6 percent 
• San Diego, Calif., 64.1 percent 
• Seattle, Wash., 66.3 percent 
• Washington, D.C., 63.9 percent

Hospitals in Your Area
To find the score for patient satisfaction with pain management in specific hospitals in your area, follow these steps:

• Go to www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov
• Scroll down & click on Find and Compare Hospitals 
• Provide City, Distance and State 
• Continue 
• Choose General Search 
• Continue 
• Scroll down and check boxes for up to three hospitals 
• Click Compare 
• Scroll down to "Survey of Patients' Hospital Experiences" to "Percent of patients who reported that their pain was 'Always' well controlled"