| Article
One of the things that can be difficult with respect to people who have acute pain is not thinking about the possible situation one, or three months out. Every so often patients deviate from the norm, which would be the healing and resolution of that acute pain. And it’s very easy, with an acute...
| Article
Primary care practitioners need to be aware of some changes relating to the use of opioids to treat pain. State-licensing board guidelines are changing. There’s some new and good legislation regarding the use of naloxone kits to help people who might be at risk for opioid overdose or even...
| Video
A specialist in pain and substance abuse discusses findings from the research on vulnerable populations in the pain community. Patients with pain and concurrent substance use disorders are particularly at risk for depression and suicidal ideation. To what degree does this underlie the problem of...
| Article
Chronic pain affects all segments of the population, but of course older adults are more likely to be impacted, particularly by joint pain and other forms of musculoskeletal pain. In some studies, up to 50% of the older population reports clinically significant pain. Those numbers go even higher in...
| Video
The enforcement arms of both commercial and government payor plans are focused on reimbursement claims for clinical laboratory services. Ongoing changes to billing and coding for services further complicate the picture for practitioners. Here’s what you need to know to stay in control of...
| Article
Patient screening and risk management in opioid therapy is really quite a challenge and requires significant knowledge of the medications particularly with high-dose opioids. First of all, you have to make a decision of whether or not, as the dose escalates, the patient should even be on opioids...
| Article
States have tried to respond to the opioid overdose epidemic, and one of the more recent innovations has been a focus on dosage thresholds and subsequent triggers. Once a chronic pain patient, for example, reaches 120 mg morphine equivalency per day, it triggers a particular action or recommendation...
| Article
It’s been said that patients who are on higher doses of morphine equivalence per day are at higher risk of opiate induced respiratory depression and death. But the truth is that patients who are on very high doses of opioids may be very much sicker and they may be at a higher risk of death for other...
| Video
Effective use of naloxone for opioid overdose requires, first, the ability to recognize the symptoms and signs of opioid induced respiratory depression. All healthcare providers, responders, and patients need education in identifying overdose emergencies. Stakeholders also need to keep abreast of...
| Article
Ancillary services, such as pharmacy or clinical laboratory, can be a lifeline to a provider, and there’s nothing wrong with having them in your office, but there’s some due diligence that needs to be done, both on your own, and probably with an attorney. If you’re going to wear all the hats of...