Illinois Pain Institute's Dr. John Prunskis and Colleagues Complete Groundbreaking HHS Pain Task Force Report
CHICAGO, June 11, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- On Thursday, May 30, 2019, the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force (Task Force) finally released its long-awaited report requested by Congress on best practices for managing acute and chronic pain.
Dr. John Prunskis, co-founder and co-medical director of the Illinois Pain Institute, was one of several nationally-recognized physicians to receive a presidential appointment to the Task Force. He was the only physician from Illinois to receive an appointment.
"I realized how many people wanted to have a seat at the table, and I felt honored to have been selected," Dr. Prunskis says. "I was asked to expand the policies and procedures of Illinois Pain Institute to a national level."
In addition to physicians, the Task Force also brought together nurses, patient advocates, and addictionologists, as well as representatives of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Food and Drug Administration, and other major regulatory and medical organizations. There were 29 experts on the Task Force in total.
The 108-page Task Force report, which was overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, emphasized interventional pain practices that treat pain at its source instead of masking its symptoms with opioid pain medications. Dr. Prunskis was chosen to assist based on the Illinois Pain Institute's recognition as a medical facility that has managed to keep opioid narcotic usage low while identifying and treating the root causes of pain.
"There are multiple ways to deal with many pain conditions other than just opioid narcotics," Dr. Prunskis says. His hope is that Congress and the White House act quickly on the Task Force report, making procedural changes, reimbursement changes, attitude changes, and laws that serve to improve pain practices in the U.S. and reduce reliance on opioid narcotics.
"The hopes are that we can continue to excel as we have, especially in the last couple of years, in improving our ability to diagnose and treat painful conditions," Dr. Prunskis says.
The Task Force report is a big step in the right direction, and should serve to guide both regulatory and clinical practices designed to better manage pain-both for those who truly do require opioid medications and those whose pain can be effectively treated in other ways.
The full report can be found here: https://www.hhs.gov/ash/advisory-committees/pain/reports/index.html
About the Illinois Pain Institute. The Illinois Pain Institute is an award-winning, multi-location pain clinic focused on treating pain at its roots. Treatment plans are tailored to individual needs, with multiple innovative therapies designed to help patients find long-term relief. It is the longest established multi-site pain center in Illinois, and nationally recognized thanks to both its clinical team and its forward-thinking practices.
For more information, contact the Illinois Pain Institute at 800-340-7246 or visit https://IllinoisPain.com
SOURCE Illinois Pain Institute
