By Ed Coghlan.

When over 100 California thought-leaders and luminaries in pain management (physicians, payers, administrators, policy makers, etc.) gather in Los Angeles November 2nd to develop a California Pain Strategy, they need some guidance.

That’s why they are asking the National Pain Report readers to help shape the discussion.

The group seeks to localize key recommendations from the National Institutes of Health’s National Pain Strategy in the Golden State. Then they hope that this strategy cannot only be implemented in California, but it will be a guide for other states.

To do that, they must understand what the chronic pain community thinks the big issues are.

To do that, they are asking for our readers to complete a short survey.

Please do that here.

Also, understand that if you try to fill out the survey and it won’t let you, it means we have reached the 100 persons limit the California leaders have asked.

If you want to add your opinion in the commentary section, please do. We are interested in your comment always, but especially on the topic of what a real comprehensive pain strategy should look like.

It’s easy to say, we need more access to pain medication—and many of you will (understandably).

But what else should be done around the issues of more physician training, patient and physician education, insurance coverage, alternative treatments and technologies or other issues that matter to you.

We really want to know.

The National Pain Strategy was adopted a couple of years ago, but its implementation has been, quite frankly, very slow in coming.

Many chronic pain physicians, advocates and patients believe the National Pain Strategy is the right recipe for dealing with chronic pain and that efforts to implement it, even at the state level, make good sense for the chronic pain patients and their loved ones.

The idea in California is that the nation’s largest state might be an example for other states and the federal government to follow.

That’s what Friday’s session in Los Angeles is designed to start—or resume:

A real conversation about chronic pain.

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