Current State of Interdisciplinary Treatment Programs

At the 2018 American Academy of Pain Medicine Annual Meeting, Michael Harris, PhD, from Pacific Rehabilitation Centers, discussed the current state of Interdisciplinary pain treatment programs.

Interdisciplinary Care means a group of different specialties and experts who are involved in patient pain care in an equal fashion, and share a single goal of improving the patient’s quality of life. A typical team includes:

• Medicine/nursing
• Psychology
• Physical Therapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Biofeedback relaxation
• Wide variety of alternative approaches

These programs started in the Northwest in the 1960s and they have now spread around the world. The first program was accredited in 1986 and peaked around 200 accredited programs in 2000. Unfortunately due to the widespread use of opioids, payment challenges, administrative costs for accreditation, and other challenges the number of accredited programs worldwide is now down to 96. There are less than 70 accredited programs in the United States.

Studies show that comprehensive pain management programs provides greater clinical effectiveness and cost savings in the long-term than the alternatives.