How Does Your Pain Practice Measure Up? Lessons Learned from Commercial Insurance Claims Data

Steven Delaronde, MPH, MSW

Adjunct Professor
University of Connecticut
Director—Department of Medical Informatics
Triad Healthcare
Plainville, CT

Rates of lumbosacral and cervical injections for the treatment of patients with musculoskeletal pain have increased significantly over the last decade, despite at times conflicting evidence regarding their efficacy. These procedures are performed by a wide variety of practitioners, including pain specialists, neurologists, anesthesiologists, and physiatrists, among others. A session at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine used data from paid medical claims for 1.7 million commercially insured members in different regions of the United States to examine types, frequency (visits/patient), and intensity (services/visit) of interventional pain services received by musculoskeletal pain patients. Clear differences were observed among the practice patterns of various specialties, including types of services (eg, translaminar or transforaminal epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, sacroiliac joint injections, radiofrequency ablation) and frequencies of visits.

References

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