At the PainCare Center, our goal is to find the source of a patient's pain problem. We aim to address the cause. Although pain medications are often useful in improving the quality of life for a person who is suffering from chronic pain, medications alone are not effective in treating the underlying cause of the pain.

We exhaust every measure toward treating the underlying cause of a person's pain prior to the institution of long-term, opiate-based medications. As we have extensive experience in the management of pain, we do find the occasional patient who will not respond to interventional therapy. It is this patient who may require long-term, opiate-based pain medication management.

Once we have deemed it necessary to place a patient on long-term opiate-based pain medication, we will optimize their medication regimen to allow them some degree of relief from their discomfort. Then, we will often refer the patient back to their primary care physician for continuation of their medications and will remain available on a consulting basis.

It is our policy that any patient placed on opiate-based pain medication must sign a contract. This contract requires the patient to receive opiate-based pain medication from only one source and to have prescriptions filled at only one pharmacy. This helps us minimize the potential for abuse.

With recent concerns nationwide of medication abuse, it is important to protect both our patients and our practices. We are more than willing to share these contracts with the referring physicians once the patients are discharged back to their care.

If you have any questions about our approach to medication management, please do not hesitate to contact us.