Pain Care As A Catalyst For Primary Care Transformation

As part of our mission to improve New Jersey’s health care delivery systems and reduce the costs of care for its underserved populations, The Nicholson Foundation has been working to strengthen primary care in the state’s safety-net system. Central to this effort is support for the integration of behavioral health care (substance use and mental health treatment) into primary care settings. With the explosion of the prescription opioid crisis in the past several years, and the concomitant awareness of the role of primary care providers in inadvertently contributing to it, this integration work has become urgent and essential. Pain is a common symptom reported by primary care patients—40 percent report pain as their chief complaint. However, despite sparse evidence that opioid pain relievers confer long-term benefits and evidence that they pose a significant risk of addiction or even death from unintentional overdose, they are often used to treat chronic noncancer pain. As many as one in four people who receive long-term opioid treatment from their primary care provider become addicted. A Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data showed that in 2014, opioids caused 28,647 overdose deaths nationally and 728 in New Jersey. For those who become dependent on opioids, the substance use problem is often compounded by co-occurring mental health conditions. In New Jersey, as in many other states, limited behavioral health...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology GrantWatch Health Professionals Behavioral Health chronic pain Consumers Health Philanthropy New Jersey opioids pain management Primary Care Project ECHO Safety Net States substance use Source Type: blogs