How Many Lawyers Does It Take to Keep a Practitioner Out of Trouble?

To provide high quality care for individuals with pain, a healthcare practitioner should have current knowledge of clinical standards, analyze each patient's medical needs, and create an individualized treatment plan. Similarly, to provide high quality legal counsel to pain care practitioners, an attorney should have current knowledge of the law, analyze each factual situation, and recommend a compliance plan specific to the circumstances. Healthcare and legal professionals alike practice more of an art than a science, making decisions based on their formal education and training, case studies, literature, and practical experience. In this presentation, 3 legal professionals will share their approaches to compliance in treating people with pain during an era of intense scrutiny and litigiousness. The presenters will discuss the principles they employ in advising practitioners on topics including prescribing opioids and other controlled medications, conducting urine drug testing, and discharging a patient for nonadherence to the treatment plan. The varying perspectives of the speakers will highlight the need for pain care professionals to ensure that their own attorney has experience in healthcare and, just as importantly, understands the unique challenges of pain care practice. (Recorded at PAINWeek 2017)