March 10, 2020 | 3:30 to 5:30 pm ET

Background

The Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic conducted a series of listening sessions to better understand the state of chronic pain management, as experienced by different end-user and stakeholder groups. An additional aim of the listening sessions is to bring greater awareness to any intended and unintended consequences of recent changes to opioid prescribing guidelines and related metrics, as they pertain to the delivery, access, and coordination of chronic pain management and care.

About this session

This listening session is the second part of the series and serves as a complement to the previous session, which focused on the experiences of those living with chronic pain. The purpose of this listening session was to focus on the perspectives and experiences of clinicians caring for patients with chronic, non-cancer pain. Our hope is to better understand the diversity and complexity of chronic pain care across the health system and to elucidate existing practice and system-level gaps in chronic pain management.

This event took place as a live listening session, during which panelists responded to 5 discussion questions.

There is an opportunity for the audience to participate by providing their written responses to the panelist discussion questions through a participation form.

Share Your Experience

Panelists:

• Gary L. LeRoy, MD, FAAFP, Family Physician and President American Academy of Family Physicians
• Tripp Logan, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacist and Chief Operating Officer of the Enhanced Service Pharmacy Alliance
• Charles P. Reznikoff, MD, FACP, Addiction Medicine Specialist Hennepin Healthcare
• Mark D. Sullivan, MD, PhD, Psychiatrist UWMC Center for Pain Relief and Regional Heart Center
• Matt Tierney, MS, NP, FAAN, Nurse Practicioner, Clinical Professor at UC San Francisco School of Nursing, and Clinical Director of Substance Use Treatment and Education for the Ofice of Population Health at UC San Francisco Health

Listening Session Questions for Discussion

1. What successes or challenges have you had in providing care to patients with pain?
2. How have prescribing guidelines for prescribing/dispensing medications/opioids for pain positively impacted the people in your care? How have they negatively impacted the people in your care?
3. How have prescribing guidelines for prescribing/dispensing medications/opioids for pain positively impacted your practice? How have they negatively influenced your daily clinical practice?
4. Describe any intended or unintended consequences you have experienced from policies/regulations/payer requirements based on opioid prescribing guidelines and provide recommendations for addressing them.
5. If you had a “magic wand,” what would you change in the health system to improve care for patients with pain?

What it will inform

The session and content gathered will inform the creation of a person-centered pain management journey map—a visual illustration of a chronic pain management journey—that will serve to accelerate the uptake of a range of pain treatments by outlining approaches to effective communication that lead to strong clinical relationships and optimal quality of life for people with pain.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this listening session are those of the participants and not necessarily of the participants’ organizations, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies.)

If you have any questions, please contact us at opioidcollaborative@nas.edu