50+ Organizations Lead the Way Toward Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management
In response to the opioid crisis, the Academy of Integrative Pain Management (AIPM) hosted 75 leaders from more than 50 organizations at the inaugural Integrative Pain Care Policy Congress on October 21-22, 2017 in San Diego during AIPM’s 28th Annual Meeting. Participants represented “the full scope” of licensed and certified health care providers, as well as payors, policy advocates and researchers.
Chiropractic was represented by Dr. Gerard Clum, DC with the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP). He joined other health care provider representatives from the American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association and the American Pharmacists Association among others.
“With input and participation of providers, insurers, researchers, policymakers and policy experts, media, and consumers, this Congress had meaningful and open discussion that led to a consensus regarding the definition of comprehensive integrative pain management,” says Gerard Clum, DC, who represented the F4CP, and points to the agreed-upon definition:
“Comprehensive integrative pain management includes biomedical, psychosocial, complementary health, and spiritual care. It is person-centered and focuses on maximizing function and wellness. Care plans are developed through a shared decision-making model that reflects the available evidence regarding optimal clinical practice and the person’s goals and values.”
The AIPM notes that “A universal definition of comprehensive integrative pain management, among organizations that have never come together around this issue, is an integral step towards implementing key solutions for the opioid overdose epidemic.”
Representatives at the event share a commitment to the idea that individualized care for people with pain requires comprehensive integrative pain management. Unfortunately, according to Bob Twillman, executive director of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, national efforts continue to ignore data that proves pain care is “not one-size-fits-all”.
“Providers and patients continue to have their treatment choices limited by what payers are covering,” said Twillman. “While state and federal policies are urging clinicians to use non-drug therapies first, insurers are waiting for more robust evidence to justify paying for these therapies, leaving patients in the lurch.”
Chiropractic’s safety record, combined with outstanding efficacy makes it a primary component to the solution to the opioid crisis. A step towards changing the status quo is already occurring. Chiropractic is now recognized as a first-line approach to non-pharmacological care by key regulators and thought-leaders at the American College of Physicians, Joint Commission, Society for Human Resource Management, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and others.
During this inaugural Congress, there was strong agreement that we must align efforts to promote quality care focused on function and wellness, not care guided only by what payers are covering, in order to actively address the opioid overdose epidemic while providing quality care for people with high-impact pain.