New AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force Urges Action to Help Patients

Task Force Updates Focus, Seeks Public Policy Changes

The American Medical Association (AMA) released recommendations today as part of its new Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force that aims to promote evidence-based policy to help end the drug-related overdose and death epidemic.

The recommendations are focused on actions that physicians can take as well as public policy changes that would ease the epidemic. This includes broad efforts to remove barriers and improve access to evidence-based care for patients with pain, a substance use disorder (SUD) or mental illness, as well as to increase access to harm-reduction strategies. The new task force also will work to more directly address the changing drug overdose epidemic, focus on removing racial, gender, sexual orientation and other health-related inequities.

“Physicians must continue to lead by example to help our patients with pain, SUDs and mental illness,” said AMA Board Chair and Task Force Chair Bobby Mukkamala, M.D. “Removing barriers requires policymakers to join us in establishing a more effective and humane approach. Failure to adopt these policies will prolong the epidemic and our patients’ suffering.”

The new task force combines the AMA’s Opioid Task Force and Pain Care Task Force. The new name and recommendations reflect a broader approach to the problem.

“The name may have changed, but this task force continues the work of promoting policies that will improve outcomes and save lives. No single recommendation is a panacea, but taken as a whole, they would move our country in the right direction,” Dr. Mukkamala said.

Highlights of the recommendations include:

Support patients with pain, mental illness or SUD by building an evidence-based, sustainable and resilient infrastructure and health care workforce rather than continuing a crisis-driven approach that has led to multiple unintended negative consequences, including one-size-fits-all strategies, continued stigma and widespread gaps in data, evidence-based treatment, and prevention efforts.

Support coverage for, access to, and payment of comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, multi-modal evidence-based treatment for patients with pain, a substance use disorder or mental illness. Additionally, coverage, access and payment should directly address racial, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic and economic inequities as well as social determinants of health. This includes removing barriers to evidence-based treatment for SUDs, co-occurring mental illness and pain.

Broaden public health and harm reduction strategies to save lives from overdose, limit the spread of infectious disease, eliminate stigma and reduce harms for people who use drugs and other substances. This includes increased support for naloxone and sterile needle and syringe exchange services.

Improve stakeholder and multi-sector collaboration to ensure that the patients, policymakers, employers, and communities benefit from evidence-based decisions.