ABSTRACT
The American Academy of Pain Management was founded in 1988 as a professional membership organization designed specifically to meet the educational and professional needs of clinicians in the emerging discipline of inter- or multidisciplinary pain management. The Academy accomplishes its goals by offering credentialing of pain treatment professionals, continuing education, legislative advocacy, pain facility accreditation and outcomes tools for documenting pain program success. Network multidisciplinary programs consist of groups of independent practitioners working together in a community to provide interdisciplinary pain care. In most network multidisciplinary pain programs, it is common that the other team members are serving as consultants to or independent contractors for, the primary practitioner providing care. A solo-practice clinician, carrying the dual responsibilities of administration and patient care, also usually operates syndrome- or modality-oriented pain programs. The syndrome- and modality-oriented program standards covering organization, business practices, and clinical operations are similar for network multidisciplinary programs.
