AAPM Endorses National Pain Strategy
The American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) has endorsed the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS’s) National Pain Strategy (NPS), a blueprint two years in the making to “reduce the burden of pain for individuals, families and society as a whole.”
Daniel B. Carr, MD, the current president of the AAPM, stated that it is not often that the group makes such a formal endorsement. According to Dr. Carr, the first-ever federal initiative to coordinate the diagnosis and treatment of pain, which was developed by the HHS’s National Institutes of Health, is very much in line with the current efforts of the AAPM largely because of the AAPM’s involvement in its development.
“The Academy is proud to endorse this influential white paper, to which many of its members have contributed along with … patient advocates, researchers and clinicians,” said Dr. Carr, who also is professor of public health and community medicine program director in the Department of Pain, Research Education and Policy at Tufts University, in Boston. “More than a dozen AAPM leaders, starting with NPS co-chair and AAPM past President Sean Mackey [MD, PhD], helped shaped this strategy as members of its oversight panel, work group participants or expert consultants. Every American concerned with pain and its prevention or treatment can view the NPS as a source of priorities, including funding decisions now and in years to come.”
The NPS action plan is composed of six “dimensions,” each identifying a developmental, clinical or research need, including population research, prevention and care, disparities, service delivery and reimbursement, education and training, and public education and communication. Its development began after it was recommended in the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s; now the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine) 2011 white paper “Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research.”
“Successful implementation of the strategic goals in the NPS will create the cultural transformation of pain prevention, care and education called for in the IOM pain report and desperately needed for the American public,” said Dr. Mackey.
Filed under: General Problems
Wow! Im trying to figure out if you are serious or just trying to paint every federal agency as the devil? Maybe you just don’t see too well anymore. The statement doesn’t say that CPP are a “burden on families and society as a whole,” it says that “pain” is a burden on individuals, families, and society as a whole. I doubt that ANY CPP would argue that pain is NOT a burden on them and/or their family. Way to misconstrue facts once again here…
Chronic pain pts are 2-3 times more likely to commit suicide… they have a higher than normal divorce rate and there was a recent survey that showed that 92% indicated that the overall cost of having a chronic pain pts in the family was a financial drain on the family’s finances. Now that the DEA/CDC is cracking down on the prescribing of opiates… suicides are starting to rise. The cost of treating chronic pain is second to diabetes only because chronic pain is grossly UNDER TREATED. Medicare/SS disability fund will go into a 20% negative cash flow in the next year or two… maybe sooner… With a estimated 106 chronic pain pts.. in all probability they have contributed significantly to this short fall of funding. Since it is estimated that <10% of the chronic pain pts get optimized pain management… how many chronic pain pts could be meaningful employed – not collecting SS disability – and tax paying citizens ? Sort of like the chicken and egg question ?
I agree, it is so much better than the CDC guidelines. The questions are.
How will the DEA stomp on it so they can continue their charade?
Who will the CDC stand behind when the real science is presented?
Will members of Congress and the House start listening to their constituents who suffer from chronic pain?
Finally, will chronic pain sufferers finally get the respect and compassion we all deserve?
So much better than the CDC guideline… Let’s hope it gets the attention it deserves.