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Pain Management for People with Serious Illness in the Context of the Opioid Epidemic: A Workshop

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Topics

On November 29, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness hosted a public workshop to explore the tension between efforts to address the opioid epidemic and the resulting impact on access to pain medications for people facing serious illness. The workshop examined the unintended consequences of the responses to the opioid epidemic for patients, families, communities, and clinicians, and considered potential policy opportunities to address them.

About Past Events

Description

An ad hoc committee will plan and host a one-day workshop to examine ways to best address the pain and symptom management needs of people with serious illness in the context of widespread opioid use disorder, including consideration of the underlying socioeconomic factors that contribute to the epidemic. The workshop will feature invited presentations and panel discussions on topics that may include:
- The Patient/Family Perspective

  • Impact of limitations in access to opioids on those with serious illness and their caregivers
  • Disparities in access to prescribed opioids for people with serious illness
  • Options for safe removal and disposal of opioids when they are no longer needed

- The Clinician Perspective

  • How restrictions on opioid prescribing affect clinicians and their ability to provide high quality care for those with serious illness
  • Ways in which clinicians manage the care of seriously ill patients who have comorbid conditions such as cancer and substance use disorder

- The Payer Perspective

  • Challenges of striking a balance between access to opioid medications for patients’ pain and symptom management and patient safety and prevention of opioid use disorder.

- The Legislative/Policy Perspective

  • Potential impact of regulatory/legislative actions to address the opioid epidemic
  • Measures to protect the population of people with serious illness whose pain can only be effectively addressed by opioids.

- Strategies to address gaps in the evidence base on pain management for people with serious illness.
The committee will develop the agenda for the workshop, select speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions. Proceedings of the presentations and discussions at the workshop will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.

Collaborators

Sponsors

Aetna (different from the Aetna Foundation)

Altarum Institute

American Academy Of Hospice And Palliative Medicine

American Cancer Society

American Geriatrics Society

Anthem

Ascension Health

Association of Professional Chaplains

Association of Rehabilitation Nurses

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Bristol Myers Squibb

California state university institute for palliative care

Cambia Health Solutions

Cedars-Sinai Health System

Center to Advance Palliative Care

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Coalition to Transform Advanced Care

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield

Federation of American Hospitals

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association

Kaiser Permanente

National Academy of Medicine

National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

National Palliative Care Research Center

National Patient Advocate Foundation

National Quality Forum

New York Academy of Medicine

Oncology Nursing Society

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network

Supportive Care Coalition

Susan G. Komen

The Greenwall Foundation

The John A. Hartford Foundation

The MAYDAY Fund

Staff

Laurene Graig

Lead

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