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A Promising Step for Pain Patients
Medicare beneficiaries with low back pain could soon have a new treatment option available: acupuncture.
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Experts Align on Individualized Treatment for Pain
from the Institute for Patient Access Two new publications make it clear: Patients in pain need access to integrative, comprehensive care. Newly adopted policies from the American Medical Association say that utilization management policies such as prior Read more…
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Why Arthritis Patients Need Balanced Pain Management
from the Institute for Patient Access Difficult trade-offs have plagued arthritis patients for long enough. For years, some patients were torn between debilitating inflammation or treatment with potentially addictive opioids. Now, with opioid prescribing on Read more…
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The Inter-Agency Pain Management Task Force Final Draft Report on Best Practice: What Providers Should Know
Earlier this month, the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force held its third and last public meeting, voting to adopt its final draft recommendations for acute and chronic pain management. Read more.
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Where Hospitals Get it Wrong on Pain and Opioids
from the Institute for Patient Access If you turn on the nightly news or open a daily paper, you’re likely to hear about the nation’s ongoing opioid abuse crisis. The overdose death tolls are staggering. Read more…
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Access to Pain Care Poses Policy Challenges
from the Institute for Patient Access “As we deal with the opioid crisis, we must keep in mind those Americans who are hurting.” These words, from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) during a February Senate hearing, Read more…
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Good News: Opioid Prescribing Fell. The Bad? Pain Patients Suffer, Doctors Say.
Three years ago this month, as alarms about the over-prescription of opioid painkillers were sounding across the country, the federal government issued course-correcting guidelines for primary care doctors. Prescriptions have fallen notably since then, and the Trump administration is Read more…
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New Survey Reveals National Attitudes on Pain Management
from the Alliance for Patient Access What stands between patients and integrative, comprehensive pain management? It could be health plan design, according to a recent attitudinal survey by the Alliance for Balanced Pain Management. The survey polled more Read more…
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Is Innovation the Answer to America’s Opioid Epidemic?
from the Alliance for Patient Access The Food and Drug Administration has approved two generic versions of an innovative drug to treat opioid addiction, increasing available treatment options for Americans fighting addiction. The move underscores Read more…
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How Policymakers Can Redefine Pain Management
More than 42,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose in 2016. Meanwhile, millions of other Americans suffer from chronic pain. The situation poses a difficult question for policymakers: How do we meet the needs of pain patients without contributing Read more…