CardiovascularNew Interventional Pain Management Guidelines Released By The American Society Of Interventional Pain Physicians
The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) announced they have released the 2009 updated Interventional Pain Management (IPM) guidelines.
Dr. Manchikanti, primary author of the guidelines stated that, "The purpose of the IPM guidelines is to address the issues of systematic evaluation and ongoing care of chronic or persistent pain, and provide information about the scientific basis of recommended procedures. The guidelines are expected to increase patient compliance, dispel miscommunications among providers and patients, manage patient expectations reasonably, and form the basis of a therapeutic partnership between the patient, the provider and payers."
ASIPP first developed treatment guidelines in 2000, and since then there have been four subsequent updates. These guidelines have been developed utilizing a comprehensive, all inclusive approach with systematic assessment of available literature. The guideline authors include various specialists practicing interventional pain management from multiple disciplines, both academic and private practice. ASIPP assessed the strength of evidence by US Preventive Services Task Force criteria. Following a formal process, they also developed multiple systematic reviews along with multiple associated documents describing in detail the process in the literature search and systematic reviews.
Dr. Manchikanti added that, "These guidelines follow the principles laid out by the scientific community including the Institute of Medicine, American Medical Association, and multiple other organizations. Further, we utilized strict criteria of relief of at least six months as short-term, except for certain procedures in which case the relief of one year was considered as short-term."
The guidelines facilitate the provision of appropriate care, which is extremely important in interventional pain management considering numerous geographic variations and potential fraud and abuse. Utilizing these criteria, the indicated evidence varied from previously published guidelines by other organizations, with accuracy of various diagnostic interventional techniques ranging from moderate for certain procedures to weak for others. Similarly, for therapeutic interventions, the evidence ranged from moderate to strong for certain interventions and for others there was weak evidence.
Dr. Manchikanti acknowledged that there are limitations to these guidelines as similar to various other guidelines, due to lack of literature in some areas. However, these guidelines are a step forward compared to many other guidelines published by ASIPP and other organizations.
About The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians
ASIPP"s mission statement is to promote the development and practice of safe, high quality, cost-effective interventional pain management techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of pain and related disorders, and to ensure patient access to these interventions. Founded in 1998 by current CEO Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, ASIPP is a rapidly growing not-for-profit organization that supports the needs of physicians who practice Interventional Pain Management across the country.
Since its inception, the organization has had substantial impact on the practice of interventional pain medicine, resulting in an impressive list of major achievements. In 2005, ASIPP succeeded in passing The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (NASPER), which provides and improves patient access to quality care, and protects patients and physicians from the deleterious effects of controlled substance misuse, abuse, and trafficking. ASIPP is headquartered in Paducah, KY and currently has over 5,000 members.
American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians