William Smucker, MD, CMD, represented AMDA at a national summit on pain management late last year. At the American Medical Association Section Council Pain Summit, five work groups identified dominant pain issues, such as that appropriate pain care is available but that patients need education to obtain it. The groups agreed that pain education should be improved in medical training and that a model encouraging collaboration between primary care and specialty physicians should be developed so patients can find the right physicians to treat their pain.
Each work group discussed one of these five questions:
▸ What should all physicians know about pain medicine?
▸ How should pain medicine be taught?
▸ What are the parameters that define the field of pain medicine?
▸ What mechanisms do we need to establish the competency of a physician who practices pain medicine?
▸ What are the barriers that prevent patients from receiving adequate pain care?
“This could be the start of something quite dramatic,” said Dr. Smucker. “The AMA is poised to take the lead nationally to pull together a coalition of patients, advocacy groups, payers, and regulators to redefine pain as a chronic disease that negatively impacts quality of life, productivity, and utilization of medical services.”
These efforts, he noted, could result in the compilation and promulgation of “best practices for evaluation and treatment that include self-care, primary care, interdisciplinary care, and triage to specialty care in rehabilitation, psychotherapy, and interventional pain care.”
At the conclusion of the summit, participants formulated a list of about 30 action items for the work groups.
“The two groups most relevant to patients and primary providers are those trying to address systems issues—government, education, insurance industry, community collaboration—and educational issues,” said Dr. Smucker.
Finding funds to achieve all of the goals the summit set will be essential, said Dr. Smucker. “Funding for such undertakings will be a challenge, but several attendees seemed to have a plan for obtaining foundation support … Any guidelines and educational initiatives should include attention to frail elders and those living in a long-term care setting.” Dr. Smucker said he looks forward to AMDA's continued involvement in and support of these efforts.
The pain summit was held in conjunction with the AMA's Interim House of Delegates meeting in Houston, last November. The Pain and Palliative Medicine Specialty Council organized the summit in response to an AMA House resolution.
The summit's mission was to “strive for excellence in the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective pain care to the patients we service.” Both Dr. Smucker and Eric G. Tangalos, MD, CMD, AMDA's delegate to the AMA, participated in two rounds of preliminary planning for this meeting. AMDA and nearly 30 other key medical associations participated in the program, as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.
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