Interdisciplinary pain management with pain patients: evidence for its effectiveness

Chronic pain is a prevalent and debilitating condition and can become quite recalcitrant. Poor outcomes from traditional medical, pharmacological, and surgical approaches have been an impetus to development of comprehensive pain programs (CPPs) in which pain specialists from multiple disciplines provide treatment for patients. With health-care costs continuing to rise, the clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of CPPs have been of greatly increased interest. In this study, evidence supporting the efficacy of CPP treatment for chronic pain is reviewed on the basis of multiple criteria. I also discuss additional treatment parameters (patient characteristics, treatment delivery, process variables) in considering the efficacy of CPPs. The literature generally supports positive results for CPPs for the various parameters. Furthermore, CPPs are likely to produce long-term cost-savings in health-care expenditures and indemnity costs.