Your AAPM: 2009 Review

We are pleased to report that many of the ambitious strategic planning goals that the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) set in 2008 have been accomplished. Before we put our collective efforts back to the grindstone and begin work on our 2009 goals, let us take a few minutes to celebrate our accomplishments from the past year … We are pleased to report that during the past 12 months, committee involvement among AAPM members increased significantly and greatly aided our overall efforts to advance Pain Medicine as a specialty. It is rewarding to see so many of our colleagues contributing their unique skills and experience to the cause of our specialty. Under the leadership of Tom Yearwood and the Membership Committee, our strategic goal of doubling AAPM membership and the decision to offer Associate Memberships to non-physician health care providers who qualify for the Associate Membership category of AAPM membership resulted in a membership count of over 2,000—AAPM's highest membership total ever. Moreover, membership retention is also at its highest—a clear sign that our organization is responding to members' needs. This growth is reflected in the larger number of members actively involved in the work of our committees, which are the lifeblood of this organization. Thanks to all who joined AAPM—your membership means a great deal to the organization. And a special thanks to those who are able to contribute a bit more, sometimes a lot more, of their time and expertise to AAPM efforts, given busy schedules and commitments. On the communications front, AAPM has made great strides to utilize technology in a manner that provides members with the tools needed to assist in the practice setting. For example, AAPM launched a new bi-weekly e-newsletter, guided by former president Fred Burgess, that provides members with timely pain news, specialized AAPM member updates, and information on advocacy and research that is important to the practice of pain. The AAPM Website (http://www.painmed.org) has been completely redesigned and incorporates a continual news feed that dispenses the latest Pain Medicine news and the most up-to-date information of relevance to Pain Medicine practitioners. Members now have easy links to MEDLINE/PubMed, and to the contents of our journal, Pain Medicine, for the latest in pain research, policy, and controversy. On the advocacy front, we are delighted to tell you, if you did not already know, two of AAPM's three primary legislative goals were achieved in the most recent congressional session. The Veterans Pain Care Act of 2008, which directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement a comprehensive policy of pain management for veterans, education, and training for providers including pain medicine specialists, and pain research, was enacted last September as part of the Veterans' Mental Health and Other Care and Improvements Act of 2008. Notably, the language in the bill passed by the House of Representatives recognized the American Board of Pain Medicine as a Pain Medicine-certifying organization. Also enacted last September, the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act included an important pain care initiative directing the Secretary of Defense and others to develop a pain care initiative in all military health care facilities. Although we were unable to enact our third priority, the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007, we are working with a strong coalition of organizations including American Cancer Society, the American Pain Foundation, and our partners in the Pain Care Coalition (the American Pain Society, the American Headache Society, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists) to get the bill reintroduced in the next legislative session. We have every reason to believe that we will be successful in 2009. These legislative gains would not have been possible without the cooperative efforts of many of our members, particularly Scott Fishman and the Legislative Affairs Committee, our Washington-based lobbyists, and our allies in the Pain Medicine community, especially our collaboration with our colleagues in the Pain Care Coalition and the American Pain Foundation. Finally, a word of praise for our incoming president-elect, Dr. Eddy Fraifeld, who as chair of the Coding and Reimbursement Committee continues to lead our efforts in securing reimbursement for our clinical treatments, and to Tim Deer and the Scientific Review Committee for review of several important guidelines this past year. Our Education Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Vitaly Gordon and his colleagues, has capably overseen our broadening educational program in many venues. For example, please note the publication of the first volume of our annual proceedings, Proceedings 2008, Annual Conference of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, edited by the Chairs of the 2008 Program Committee, Drs. Scott Fishman and Gaghan Mahajan. Perhaps the most exciting opportunity for AAPM education is the convening of the organization's 25th Annual Meeting in Hawaii. The curriculum offered for this meeting is outstanding, and the opportunity to share this event with our Pacific Rim colleagues brings significant collaboration and outreach with international contacts. The Program Committee, led by Drs. Perry Fine and Todd Sitzman, scheduled a combination of dynamic presentations and posters featuring colleagues from Asia, particularly China, and from Australia–New Zealand, as well as time to enjoy the wonderful beaches, waters, and scenery of Hawaii. The Essentials Course, led by Zahid Bajwa and Bill McCarberg, provides the latest information on the practice of pain medicine. AAPM's online submission process resulted in receiving a record number of scientific posters that were reviewed and selected by the Scientific Poster Committee led by Jeff Tiede. This year's meeting features 180 posters from around the world divided into five broad topics: interventional; psychosocial and rehabilitation; translational; pharmacological; and epidemiology, health policy, and education. In addition, conference participants were afforded the opportunity to register online for the meeting a record 6 months prior to the event. The technology is the easy part; the more challenging piece is narrowing the topics and lining up all the speakers that far in advance, so our Program Committee and AAPM education staff deserve great credit. We would like to particularly thank our international advisors, Drs. Jisheng Han and De Ren Zhang from China, and Drs. Cousins, Gouke, and Bogduk from Australia, for their participation in planning the conference. On a related note, AAPM has also adopted “green choices” that enabled the meeting syllabus to be available a week prior to the meeting for those interested in downloading it before heading to Hawaii. Our education comments would not be complete without mention of AAPM's collaboration with the New York State Society of Anesthesia in which workshops were offered in conjunction with the PGA 62 meeting in December. AAPM was excited to participate in this event and is interested in doing more educational collaborations in the future. Finally, our journal Pain Medicine, cosponsored by the International Spine Intervention Society and the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, continues to thrive. We have expanded the number of pages to 200 per issue for 2009, with two extra issues including a 10th Anniversary Special Issue, and a Chinese translation, and we will increase to 12 issues in 2010. Our impact factor, one indicator of our scholarship, has risen for the sixth straight year to 2.741. Importantly, our journal continues to present timely science, perspective, and policy to our members, the field and the public. Recognizing the importance of the peer review process to our science and education, AAPM members and others who review submitted manuscripts for Pain Medicine will now receive CME credits for this critically important scholarly contribution. Working cooperatively with other organizations is critical to our ability to meet the needs of patients and serve our members. The External Affairs Committee, under the leadership of Norm Marcus, has oversight of work that expands our outreach and recognition; therefore, the Communications Committee and the External Affairs Committee are preparing a PowerPoint presentation that will be made available to AAPM members to use for presentations and interactions with the press, the public, payers, peers, and government officials. Also key to ongoing relationships was AAPM's success in retaining its seat in the AMA House of Delegates by virtue of the fact that at least 35% of our members are also AMA members. Thanks to all AMA–AAPM members who helped secure the HOD seat, which allows AAPM to continue working within the AMA to develop pain care policies, to raise Pain Medicine's profile, and to lead the fight for specialty recognition. Special thanks to our AMA representatives, Drs. Phil Lippe and Bert Ray, and to Phil Saigh, for their diligent work at the AMA meetings and beyond as our official representatives. AAPM continues to strengthen ties with our global colleagues in pain medicine science and education. In August 2008, at the IASP in Glasgow, AAPM members attended a meeting of pain medicine physicians from Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada, France, and Russia, among other countries, to discuss developing international training standards for pain medicine specialists. Notably, in October 2007, AAPM's Michel Dubois was in attendance at the 5th East West Pain Conference in Beijing, China, where Professor Jisheng Han, President of the Chinese Association for the Study of Pain (CASP) and renowned professor of physiology and member of the Chinese Academy of Science, announced with China's Minister of Health that its Ministry declared Pain Medicine as a separate specialty and directed that all major hospitals develop pain management departments. It has since been reported by Dr. Han that in 2008, 20% of hospitals instituted such departments. In October 2008, CASP hosted AAPM members at the 6th East West Pain Conference in Shenzhen, China, to strengthen communication about pain medicine science, training, and the publication of scholarly manuscripts. Professor Han and Dr. Michel Dubois served as presidents of the conference which was hosted by the Sixth People's Hospital of Shenzhen and its President, Professor De Ren Zhang, a leading pain medicine specialist. Drs. Follett, Gallagher, Sitzman, and Dubois, and AAPM Executive Director Phil Saigh, presented papers with pain medicine specialists and their colleagues from around the world, and planned the development of a Chinese edition of Pain Medicine. As highlighted in this column, AAPM has experienced a productive 12 months; however, the activity noted does not encompass the organization's entire activities. Therefore, we would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to the following individuals who chaired the respective 2008 Committees as well as the members who comprised these committees: Donna Bloodworth, Site Selection; Michel Dubois, Ethics; Michel Dubois, Bylaws; Perry Fine, Finance; Mel Gitlin, Council of Past Presidents; Richard Osenbach, CME; Todd Sitzman, Awards; and Todd Sitzman, Nominations. Thanks to all for your commitment and efforts on behalf of AAPM! Looking ahead to 2009, AAPM's Strategic Plan provides us with a critical organizational direction. We look forward to the collective input and assistance of the membership as AAPM builds on the success of the past year to provide our members with the information, the tools, and the resources needed to deliver the best possible pain care to our patients. Thank you for your continued support of AAPM.

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