Standiford Helm II, MD, medical director of The Helm Center for Pain Management in Laguna Woods, Calif., shares his thoughts on factors impacting the pain management industry and why he employs a multidisciplinary approach to manage chronic pain.
Dr. Helm will be speaking at the Becker's 16th Annual Future of Spine + The Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference. To learn more and register, click here. Contact Maura Jodoin at mjodoin@beckershealthcare.com or Kristelle Khazzaka at Kkhazzaka@beckershealthcare.com for further information about sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities.
Question: What are some key business trends taking hold in the industry that impact your pain practice?
Dr. Standiford Helm: The growing use of guidelines which don't view the literature in the same way that physicians do has led to greater difficulty in getting procedures authorized. Procedures such as cervical epidural injections, sacroiliac joint procedures, neuroplasty, cooled radio frequency procedures and new indications for spinal cord stimulation are among those that have erroneously been felt by various guidelines to be experimental.
At the same time, the pricing power of increasingly large health insurers and Medicare has led to continually decreasing reimbursement in the face of increasing costs.
Finally, the regulatory burden created by MIPS is difficult to comply with outside of a large group, putting more pressure on practices.
Question: What approach have you employed to successfully manage pain at The Helm Center?
SH: Chronic pain is multifactorial. Although the focus of my practice is interventional pain management, we use a multidisciplinary approach, including a wide variety of interventional techniques, medication management, cognitive behavioral therapy, functional restoration/physical and chiropractic therapy/home exercise program, along with acupuncture, to treat pain. The trick is to continually incorporate new therapies and techniques as they become available to offer patients better outcomes because of more options.