Expert consensus on how to help patients with chronic pain get adequate care and coverage

In a new paper in the Journal of Pain Research, researchers from the University of Michigan describe the consensus of a wide range of experts about how to help patients with chronic pain get adequate pain care, and coverage for the cost of that care. Specifically, the experts call for restructuring the insurance models under which health care providers get reimbursed for caring for people with chronic pain, enhancing education of health care providers in chronic pain care as well as identifying and treating opioid use disorder, and addressing racial inequities in care which are often rooted in stigma around pain and opioid use. Called multi-modal pain care, it involves not just oral pain medications but physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, injected pain therapies and integrative medicine techniques including acupuncture and chiropractic care. Although intended as guidance rather than rules, they became the basis for policies and clinical practices that inadvertently closed doors to care for chronic pain patients, Lagisetty notes. The expert consensus process was funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA047475) and the National Institute on Aging (AG062043).