Society
Share Your Skills and Expertise with APS
Volunteering to serve on a committee is an excellent way to shape the direction and programs of the Society, build your professional network, expand your knowledge, and exercise leadership skills. APS strongly encourages members to get involved in committees to help advance the Society's mission as well as the field.
Here's what your peers have to say about their experience:
Call for 2019 Nominations Is Now Open!
The APS Nominating Committee solicits your nominations for positions on the 2019 Board of Directors and Nominating Committee. Open positions include president-elect; secretary; three directors-at-large; and six seats on the Nominating Committee, including one past president, two former board members, and three members at large. Those elected will be announced at the 2019 Scientific Meeting.
Nominees must be regular APS members and should demonstrate leadership qualities; have the ability to develop, communicate, and sustain the Society’s vision; possess strategic thinking, motivation, negotiation, and communication skills; and exhibit a sense of mission and dedication to the Society, its members, and the purposes we serve.
This is your opportunity to nominate members who demonstrate dedication to the Society through volunteerism and leadership. Please consider nominating yourself or another qualified member for the open positions.
Please submit your nomination(s) by Monday, July 2, 2018.
Message from APS President William Maixner, DDS PhD
American Pain Society Urges Expanded Insurance Coverage for Interdisciplinary Pain Care
As Congress evaluates dozens of bills designed to control misuse of opioid analgesics, various proposals and actions to limit opioid prescribing and supply will have the opposite impact—many legitimate pain patients cut off from their medications and desperate for relief may turn to illicit drugs, often with tragic results.
There is a dual epidemic of chronic pain and opioid misuse, and policy debates about opioids should concentrate on wider use of proven alternative therapies, improving insurance coverage for them, and allocating significantly more federal research dollars for grants to develop new, nonaddictive pain medications. The supply-side approach won't work because patients who are denied opioids still need alternative pain treatments, which, for most, are unavailable or unaffordable without adequate insurance coverage.
As more and more primary care physicians stop prescribing opioids, they refer chronic pain patients to specialty clinics. Frustration ensues as patients seek alternative treatments, yet there are so few specialty clinics that many do not accept new patients, especially in rural areas.
Let's call it a tragic catch-22. Doctors refer patients to specialty pain clinics, usually filled to capacity, so desperation sets in and the next stop could be a dealer on the street eager to sell heroin or synthetic fentanyl. We need more specialty pain clinics but paltry reimbursements discourage qualified providers from opening them.
It will take years for new pain therapies to emerge from research laboratories, but there are proven, nonpharmacologic alternatives to opioids with great potential to reduce opioid prescribing.
Biopsychosocial approaches to pain assessment offer excellent potential to enhance treatment outcomes by better matching patients to appropriate treatments. Studies referenced in the National Institute of Health's National Pain Strategy show that psychosocial pain treatments work and are making a difference. Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers, therefore, must offer coverage for biopsychosocial pain management as part of a comprehensive national effort to bring relief to people with chronic pain without resorting to addictive opioids.
At the recent American Pain Society Scientific Summit, speakers stressed that greater understanding of complex, underlying pain mechanisms, which are different in most patients, holds promise to improve the quality and precision of clinical pain assessments and help foster successful treatment outcomes. This is the underlying rationale for an interdisciplinary approach to pain management. In his plenary session talk, former APS President Roger Fillingim, PhD, said the complexity of the biopsychosocial mosaic that influences pain demands an equally sophisticated approach to pain assessment and treatment. "Pain treatment should target the multiple biopsychosocial drivers of a patient's pain, and the goal is to deploy personalized pain management comprised of multiple treatment modalities designed for each patient," Fillingim stressed.
We know and have proved in numerous studies that the biopsychosocial treatments are effective for pain management. Convincing payors to cover them is our biggest challenge today. It's clear the opioid epidemic will not subside unless reimbursements for interdisciplinary pain management increase and foster expansion of these services so more patients can replace opioids with alternative, nonpharmacological treatments that offer better outcomes.
New APS Early Career Listserv
A strong and well-connected American Pain Society promotes our missions and supports our members. Please take a moment to join the APS Early Career listserv and be an active part of the network of clinicians and scientists training and working together to improve the treatment and understanding of pain. This listserv will provide a communication tool for early career members as well as early and direct information on upcoming meeting and submission dates, volunteer opportunities, and job openings.
E-mail lists@americanpainsociety.org to join the listserv.
Please note that APS defines early career as up to 5 years post-fellowship.
Steve Davidson, PhD
APS Early Career Advisory Group Chair
New Online Membership Directory!
The APS Member Directory is your go-to source to make connections with other members of the Society. With an easy-to-use search bar and drop down filter, this member-only benefit shares contact and professional demographic information for those who wish to be listed.
Make sure your profile is current so that your peers can find you!
If you have any questions about the membership directory, please contact Caryn Giznik at cgiznik@americanpainsociety.org.