Message from the Director

Welcome to the first newsletter from the Alliance to Advance Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management (AACIPM)! We are excited for you to read about our launch and accomplishments in the first few months.

Our core projects are fully under way with engagement from leaders representing people with pain, payors, healthcare providers, purchasers of healthcare, patient/caregiver advocates, researchers, policy makers, policy experts, government agencies and federal medicine.

I’m excited to share a few highlights from December 2019, including:

AACIPM’s first op-ed was published in Morning Consult, authored by two of our advisory and planning committee members – Adam Seidner, Chief Medical Officer, The Hartford and Cheryl Larson, President, Midwest Business Group on Health;
Our website officially launched; and
AACIPM was ranked in the Integrator’s 2019 List of Top 10 for Policy and Action in Integrative Health and Medicine.

While not a new organization, AACIPM is an initiative to advance comprehensive integrative pain management and build a stronger network of engaged stakeholders. We strive to connect the dots so that our collective work will align in defining and activating a quality integrated pain care policy and practice paradigm shift.

I am so grateful to the Lovell Foundation for the multi-year grant to fund this important work and to The Pain Community for being a mission-driven fiscal sponsor. Additionally, the efforts of AACIPM’s Advisory Committee members (like Dr. Vanila Singh, who is in our guest spotlight below), and other leaders involved in our core activities are making a strong impact in the work of this multi-stakeholder collaborative.

Everyone I speak with seems to agree that we are in an exciting time of innovation and action around comprehensive integrative pain management – this theme will be present in all our activities, including the Pain Policy Congress Meeting, taking place in May 2020. Take a look at “AACIPM at Work” in the right column of this newsletter to see where else we are heading this Spring and how you can get more involved.

Onward and upward!

Amy Goldstein, Director

AACIPM in the News

Breaking News: AACIPM was recognized by the Integrator Blog News & Reports in the Top 10 for Policy and Action in Integrative Health and Medicine. Read more

Press Release: The Alliance to Advance Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management officially launched in November with a press release, highlighting its mission of uniting stakeholders across the healthcare community to advocate for comprehensive integrative pain management (CIPM).

Op-Ed: In December, Morning Consult published an op-ed authored by two members of AACIPM’s advisory and planning committee – Adam Seidner, Chief Medical Officer, The Hartford and Cheryl Larson, President, Midwest Business Group on Health. This piece clearly articulates why CIPM is so critical in the current landscape, and how the Alliance is activating for future change.

Website Launch: The AACIPM website also went live in December! We invite you to visit and share feedback.

Pain Policy Congress 2020

AACIPM’s Pain Policy Congress will convene May 13-14, 2020, in Kansas City, Missouri. This invitation-only meeting will convene 125 leaders from more than 75 organizations that share interest to improve access to comprehensive integrative pain management (CIPM) for people with pain. You can see some of the distinguished participants.

Sponsorship for the Pain Policy Congress

There are sponsorship opportunities available for the Pain Policy Congress. We appreciate your consideration of sponsoring this highly-anticipated event. Click to see sponsorship levels and benefits.

Guest Spotlight: Dr. Vanila Singh

Dr. Vanila Singh is one of AACIPM’s Advisory Committee members and a tireless advocate for patient-centered pain management. She has an important vantage point from her recent position as Chief Medical Officer at HHS and after leading to completion the Best Practices Pain Management Task Force Report.

See what Dr. Singh has to say about AACIPM, the task force report, Nora Volkow’s recent comments about the timeline for new pain medicines, innovation in pain management and more:

What are you most excited about in your work with AACIPM?
I am excited about the innovation to help address painful conditions. I believe we are at a potentially transformative time if all stakeholders can come together and put patients and their needs at the center. AACIPM is uniquely positioned in some ways to bring folks together to see these common goals.

Connecting the Dots

In December, AACIPM participated in two back-to-back meetings in DC with key stakeholders focused on policy solutions that promote individualized, multimodal, comprehensive, person-centered, integrative pain care. The Alliance for Balanced Pain Management held its 6th summit, and AACIPM Advisory Committee member, Kate Nicholson, was a panelist, sharing her experience as a person living with pain and her advocacy work to advance CIPM. The following day, the Voices for Non-Opioid Choices initiative held a meeting, focusing on promoting evidence-based treatment options for acute pain.

Read about AACIPM’s takeaways from these two events.

Announcements

January 21 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announces it will cover up to 12 visits of acupuncture for chronic low back pain under the Social Security Act. Read more.

February 4 – Federal advisory committee establishing Workgroup for possible update of the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain – United States, 2016. Deadline for nominations February 4, 2020. Read more