Identifying Strategies to Improve Implementation of Integrative Pain Management in Primary Care

As a specialty that focuses on whole-person, comprehensive care, family medicine is uniquely situated to integrate IPM into routine practice. Furthermore, ongoing collaboration with primary care clinicians such as behavioral health providers and pharmacists are synergistic toward these goals. However, challenges related to knowledge, comfort, payment, and resource availability must first be overcome within family medicine. This requires improving education on pain management in medical school and residency, increasing access to community referral networks with specialized knowledge in chronic pain, and expanding payments for nonpharmacologic and team-based care.