Missouri Pain Initiative Pain Policy Issues on the Horizon
- Removing ambiguous and confusing language from pain statues and regulations.
- Ensuring any prescription monitoring program (PMP) legislation introduced or passed is balanced and contains provisions
for adequately funding education related to the use of the program.
- Ensuring transparency in therapeutic switching.
- Ensuring step therapy protocols are supported by clinical evidence, and in cases where patients who have
already been subjected to step regimens, PBMs should be required to implement an exceptions policy.
Pain is Common
- About 9 in 10 Americans experience pain on a regular basis.
- Pain is the most common reason in American for visits to the doctor.
- It is estimated that each year 25 million Americans experience acute pain due to surgery or injury, while 50
million suffer persistent pain.
- Persistent pain is the most common cause of long-term disability and costs the U.S. economy an estimated $100
billion each year in lost wages, poor productivity, and health care expenses.
Some Common Causes of Persistent Pain
Pain Impacts Americans Across the Life Span
- Children, even newborns, experience and remember pain. Not long ago, it was believed that young children could not
feel or remember pain. It is now known that children experience pain at a much higher level than previously thought.
- Nearly one-half of children ages 10 to 18 years will suffer a pain condition lasting 3 months or longer.
- It has been widely held belief that elders did not feel pain the way younger adults did. Research has shown this not
to be true. Even elders with dementia can experience pain.
- Approximately 50% of elders living independently and 75% of elders in living in care facilities experience
persistent pain.
What's the big deal? It is only pain.
Pain is a big deal! Impacts of poorly managed pain include:
- Poor quality of life
- Impaired ability to perform normal daily activities
- Emotional distress, such as anxiety, fear, and anger
- Depression often leading to thoughts of suicide
- Requests for euthanasia
- Declining of life-prolonging treatments
- Major cause of work place absenteeism, underemployment and unemployment
- Mounting health care costs
- Disability compensation
Undertreated pain is an important public health issue. Many consider undertreatment of pain one of the most important public
health issues of our day.