Message from the Director

Keeping People with Pain at the Center of Care

In practical terms, AACIPM acts as a watchdog, connector, and activator to accelerate the timeframe for quality pain management to be better understood and accessible for the tens of millions of people with pain. This is not an “either / or” prospect in terms of what treatments are included, but rather a transformation in how we consider the whole person and the current available research and data that allows us to take solid action now. Making progress in this regard is extremely complex and involves many stakeholders who are not always working alongside one another in meaningful ways.

In the shadow of the opioid misuse and overdose epidemic, there is general alignment around the call for a more judicial use of opioids for pain. There is also alignment that people with pain should be at the center of the value-based pain care we are working to advance. There is simply not yet alignment around how to deliver pain care well, affordably, and with consistent outcomes. We have known for decades that a biopsychosocial approach to care is a gold standard, yet extreme barriers still exist around understanding and implementing this approach in a scalable and effective way.

All of our individual efforts are important and move the needle, yet none of our efforts alone can get us where we need to go. We need a change in culture, a paradigm shift, in how we think about and provide quality pain care. This inherently forces changes in mindset and infrastructure for so many important decision-makers.

What I see happening right now in this space is very positive. Every single day I believe this a bit more. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to participate in a Roundtable facilitated by the Duke-Margolis Health Policy Center, Implementing Integrated Pain Management: Lessons from North Carolina Health Systems and Beyond (see pictures along with Adam Seidner’s reflections below in “Connecting the Dots” and Jeff Dusek’s Spotlight on research below that). This meeting was very exciting on many levels, including valuable face-time with many of the advisors and leaders from the Alliance to Advance Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management who were invited. I’m also excited to share that the Duke-Margolis Health Policy team who facilitated the Roundtable will be attending our May Pain Policy Congress to keep connecting meaningfully around our shared priorities.

Although we’re still pushing that proverbial boulder up the hill, I can feel the energy from many more hands on that boulder.

Onward and Upward!

Amy

P.S. Please don’t miss this exciting news! Lovell Foundation has generously agreed to match ALL sponsorships for the Pain Policy Congress—act now to allow your contributions to go even further!

Connecting the Dots

Reflections on the Duke Integrated Pain Management Roundtable

AACIPM Director, Amy Goldstein, and a number of other AACIPM leaders attended this meeting on February 5 in Durham, NC. Adam Seidner, MD MPH, member of the AACIPM Advisory Committee, attended and reflected on his experience:

“On February 5th, I participated in the Implementing Integrated Pain Management: Lessons from North Carolina Health Systems and Beyond conference at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy…” read more

After dinner with some of AACIPM’s leadership: Amy Goldstein with Drs. Jeff Dusek, Vanilla Singh, Eric Schoomaker, and Doug Metz

Feb. 5 Roundtable hosted by Duke Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy

Pain Policy Congress 2020

AACIPM’s Pain Policy Congress is less than three months away! It will be held May 13-14, 2020, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Important Registration Information

This invitation-only meeting is limited to 125 leaders from about 75 organizations that share interest to improve access to comprehensive integrative pain management (CIPM) for people with pain. We are closing in on registrations so please contact us as soon as possible if you received an invitation and have not responded.

View some of the distinguished participants.

Lovell Foundation will be Matching Sponsorship Contributions!

We are thrilled to report that Lovell Foundation has agreed to match any sponsorship dollars that come in for the Pain Policy Congress! Act now so that your dollars can go even further. We appreciate your consideration of sponsoring this highly-anticipated event. Click to see sponsorship levels and benefits.

Guest Spotlight: Jeff Dusek

Dr. Jeffery Dusek, Director of Research, Connor Integrative Health Network, University Hospitals, Cleveland OH, is sharing his reflections on the current environment of integrative health and medicine and pain.

“I feel that 2020 is already starting out to be an exciting year for integrative health and medicine and pain.”

#AACIPM is Socially Engaged

Since launching its Twitter account (@aacipm) and LinkedIn group page in October 2019, AACIPM has been engaging with stakeholders, advocates and patients on a variety of issues surrounding pain. And the pain community has responded favorably to the work AACIPM has done and is doing.

To help tell the story of pain via social media, we utilize hashtags (#) to engage other pain stakeholders and entities to support each other’s work and connect the dots across the healthcare spectrum. Some of these hashtags include:

#pain
#AACIPM
#CIPM
#painmanagement
#patientcentered
#patientaccess
#outcomes
#patients
#integrative

Illustrated here are the impressions – viewership – of our posts on Twitter and the average time spent on our website (higher than the industry average!). For less than 5 months as a social media entity, we’re pleased to be contributing to the discussion on pain in a big way.

If you’re not already following @AACIPM on Twitter or on LinkedIn, please do. And like/share/retweet our posts with your community to help enhance our reach and further connect the dots on pain.

Announcements

AACIPM, Midwest Business Group on Health to Host First Health Care Purchasers Focus Group

The first Health Care Purchasers Focus Group will convene in Chicago, Illinois, on March 4, 2020, bringing together some of the country’s leading employer and industry experts to discuss safe, high-quality, and affordable treatment options for pain.

The inaugural event will be hosted jointly by the Alliance to Advance Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management (AACIPM) and the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), and will release a summary report of the findings later this summer.

For more information, visit AACIPM’s website.

NIH Announces Spring Lecture Series on Mental Health & Pain

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has announced the dates of the NCCIH Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series. This year, the series includes three lectures under the theme “Novel Approaches at the Intersection of Mental Health and Pain.” Access the videocasts or more information.