Impact of 4PCP on Practitioner and Patient Outcomes

Reducing opioid prescribing and improving outcomes in patients with chronic pain would benefit our nation. Neither addiction nor chronic pain spares any race, gender, or particular socio-economic status. This study is investigating a potentially inexpensive way of providing a previously costly service (the intensive chronic pain rehabilitation program), which is why insurers stopped covering it. Although it is unusual for an application from an academic institution to include a startup company (PainSTakers, LLC) as the curriculum provider, this is actually a long-term strength of this program, and the reason NIH recommended this route. It ensures that 4PCP will ultimately sustain itself rather than require government support for its continuation. Support for this application is not to provide the curriculum, but to determine if it is effective in the outcomes expected to be found. The curriculum is being provided freely only as an incentive for practitioners to participate in the research portion of the study. If the study is able to demonstrate its clinical effectiveness, the next step will be to show a positive economic impact for health care institutions and for health insurers who may then wish to support the program for their practitioners and their patients.