During Thanksgiving week, AHRQ issued a request for comment regarding their research protocol for integrated pain management programs.
In response, AACIPM facilitated a December 15 call among coalition members to discuss.
Thirty-five (35) people representing payors, providers, people with pain, and researchers came together to discuss the research protocol and discovered strong agreement around a few key concerns. Essentially, we are concerned that the current inclusion and exclusion standards, as well as the short timeframe for response, will result in relevant data being missed by AHRQ’s systematic review.
And within a few days, a subgroup drafted a response and more than seventy (70) respected individuals and organizations signed before the deadline on December 21.
The letter begins…
We are grateful for the efforts of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in designing this systematic review. An integral part of the Dr. Todd Graham Pain Management Study, this review will aid in the design of Medicare benefits so that whole person pain management is optimized by providing access to evidence-based modalities, including non-opioid pain management treatments. These efforts should also avoid financial incentives to use opioids instead of non-opioid treatments. The members of our coalition have been working on the complex issues related to comprehensive integrative pain management for many years…
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