Requires health care professional undergraduate, graduate and continuing education in chronic pain management and treatment

Summary of provisions

Section 1: Legislative Intent.

Section 2: Creates a new Article 28-F in the public Health law. Provides grants for medical school education in chronic pain care treatment and management that may be used for faculty development and recruitment, and teaching at hospital based ambulatory care settings and hospices, including personnel, administration, and student-related expenses. Grants awarded through a competitive application process are to be monitored by the newly created state Chronic Pain Management Education and Training Council.

Provides grants for residency medical education in chronic pain care treatment and management that may be used for faculty development and recruitment, start-up costs and teaching at hospital based chronic pain care settings and non-hospital based care sites, including personnel, administration and trainee related costs. Grants are to be awarded through a competitive application process monitored by the Council.

Authorizes the commissioner of Health to designate Chronic Pain Health Care professional practitioner Resource Centers which may be state-wide or regional, to provide technical information and guidance for practitioners on the treatment and management of chronic pain. Such treatment and management can include new and advanced strategies, therapies. and medications in this area of medicine. The resource centers must be not-for-profit but they may charge fees to defray the cost of the service.

Establishes a New York State Chronic Pain Management Education and Training Council. The bill outlines the membership of this new council

and its duties on advising the Commissioner of Health on encouraging medical schools and graduate medical educators to better highlight the need to treat and manage chronic pain. Further, to help develop better models of interdisciplinary cooperation between different health care professionals who treat individuals that have chronic pain. Doing this may be able to help increase the coordination of care, and thereby benefit a patient's well-being and simultaneously help to reduce health care costs by reducing the number of patient visits, diagnostic tests conducted, and strong pain medications administered. The bill further outlines public policies that should be considered, examined and possibly advanced by the Council. In addition, the bill authorizes the Council to make suggestions to the Departments of Health and Education on how to better present course materials to health care professionals in continuing education programs that educate such professionals in the management and treatment of chronic pain.

Section 3: Amends Education Law section 6507 (3) to grant to the Education Department the ability to accept the recommendations of the Council in revising the continuing education requirements of certain health care professionals that are licensed pursuant to the Education Law. Such recommendations and alterations in the provision of such continuing education shall be tailored to the specific health care profession in question.

Section 4: Allocates up to $2.5 million in Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) funds for grants for medical school education in chronic pain care and up to $2.5 million in Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) funds for grants for graduate medical education in palliative care.

Justification

Improving the management and treatment of chronic pain in New York, especially the treatment of chronic pain, that leads to a patient's decrease in physical activity, increased obesity rates, higher rates of unemployment and higher rates of mental anguish are important medical and patient wellbeing goals. Research in New York and nationally has documented that there may be a general lack of knowledge among many segments of health care practitioner community concerning chronic pain care and the diagnosis and treatment of such pain.

New York, being one of the centers for medical school education and education for other health care professionals in the country, should consider expanding education for physicians and others in chronic care. The Council created by this bill should provide a focal point for those interested in the treatment and management of chronic pain both as an area of separate study and as an area for further advances in interdisciplinary study among the various treating professions.

Further the bill helps to provide technical support for practicing physicians and other health care professionals who are faced with complex or unfamiliar pain-related conditions. To develop these

resources, experts in chronic pain care management from New York's medical community should be engaged in the process, thus ensuring that vital clinical and educational expertise is available.

Developing residency programs for physicians and other health care professionals will improve the training of new health care profes- sionals. Further, it will generally improve the awareness and quality of chronic pain care among all health care professionals who practice at the residency program sites.

Legislative history

This bill is similar in format to S.581, sponsored by Senator Hannon in 2006 and 2007, which related to establishing a Council for palliative Care. This bill ultimately became law and was integrated into the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) by Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2007.

This bill is different from S.581 because it concentrates on chronic pain treatment and management and takes a more interdisciplinary approach to coordinating care among all health care professionals that treat persons with chronic pain conditions. Further, this bill expands the concept of encouraging graduate medical education centers to teach and research palliative care (in this bill's case chronic pain) to include other health care professionals that treat or monitor individuals with chronic pain such as acupuncturists, chiropractors, nurses, physical therapists, podiatrists, drug manufacturers, health care plan payors, and others health care practitioners. The bill hopes to encourage better cooperation between the various health care professions both in the graduate training of such professionals and in the continuing education forum after graduating from such health care professional school.

Fiscal implications

Authorizes the allocation of up to $5 million in existing HCRA funds, upon the appropriation of such funds and the Commissioner of Health authorizing the disbursement of such funds.

Effective date

Immediately.