Meeting Theme: Innovation & Technology in Pain Medicine

In 2016, an estimated 20.4% of U.S. adults had chronic pain and 8.0% of U.S. adults had high-impact chronic pain (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), making it one of the most important public health problems of our time both in terms of the number of patients affected and the impact on healthcare costs. Pain medicine specialists know that employing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, patient-centered approach to pain management means staying abreast of the latest and most up to date complementary and integrative pain management therapies, interventional therapies, neuromodulation, rehabilitative therapies, medical therapies, and the latest technical innovations, especially while we as a specialty and a nation continue to grapple with the opioid crisis. Meeting sessions will focus on the theme Innovation & Technology in Pain Medicine and will address topics such as:

• Procedural and surgical pain management interventions, applying image-guided, minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat pain conditions
• Complementary and integrative mechanisms for treating pain
• Non-pharmacological pain management treatments, including physical and behavioral therapies
• Interactive patient care technologies to better manage pain expectations and perceptions, including a focus on caring for special populations, such as cancer patients, adolescents, and veterans
• Bringing research into practice and the latest basic and translational science in the field of pain
• Practice management tips and tools regarding regulatory, fiscal, and legal/ethical issues.