PROFESSIONPreventing undertreatment of pain: Model policy on controlled substancesThe new directive is designed to provide guidance to medical boards and doctors on how to treat pain.By Damon Adams, amednews staff. May 17, 2004. Some physicians who specialize in treating pain fear that law enforcement officers will bust through their doors for prescribing opioids. OxyContin abuse and diversion have grabbed headlines and turned the spotlight on problems of overtreating pain. Undertreatment of pain has received less attention. But that's changing, pain experts say, as federal and other agencies look more closely at how physicians treat pain. This month, the Federation of State Medical Boards passed a model policy on the use of controlled substances for the treatment of pain. The policy revised guidelines adopted in 1998 to give state medical boards and physicians direction on proper pain treatment. The strengthened pain policy encourages boards to view undertreatment of pain as serious a violation as overtreatment. If boards embrace the policy as their own, doctors would face greater scrutiny for undertreatment of pain, board officials and pain experts said. "This outlines guidelines that can assure a doctor that if he or she is following these guidelines that they will have the umbrella of safety of their state," said James Thompson, MD, CEO of the Texas-based federation, which represents 70 medical boards. The new policy said physicians should not fear disciplinary action from boards if they treat pain for a legitimate medical purpose. Boards would judge the validity of a doctor's treatment based on available documentation. The policy is not radically different from the 1998 guidelines. But medical board leaders saw a need to create a stronger policy to address emerging issues such as undertreatment. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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The doctors are in the house
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