Pain Education

The pain education campaign’s mission is to support families and caregivers navigating pain management options and provide the resources and education needed to support appropriate prescribing, shared decision making with providers and access to treatment innovations.

An estimated 80 million Americans receive medicine for acute pain each year. 1 Furthermore, to help manage pain approximately 125 million opioid prescriptions were dispensed to patients in 2023.2 Although opioids can be effective, they can also pose significant risks to an individual’s health, putting individuals at a higher risk for developing an opioid use disorder (OUD).

With a high prevalence of acute pain and OUD, which impact more than 2.1 million Americans3, it is critical families and caregivers receive the support they need to make the most informed decisions about pain management treatment options. To do so, the pain education campaign provides educational materials, webinars and other resources to help families and caregivers navigate available options.

In addition, the pain education campaign, together with CAN’s FAM will create, educate, and advocate for policies and programs that help address pain management so that all families, caregivers, and patients have the tools and resources they need to thrive.

2.1+ million Americans

are impacted with a high prevalence of acute pain and Opioid Use Disorder (OUD).

Source: National Library of Medicine

Steering Committee

Resources

December 5, 2024

Empowering Families in Health Policy Decision-Making

Learn how to drive change to better support families navigating health challenges, hear from experts about how to work directly with state and federal representatives and see how empowered patients and care partners make a difference on key topics such as ICER meetings.

Importance of Coordination in Patient Access

There are multiple stakeholders that play a role in increasing access to treatment. Learn how each player must be aligned to support patient access.

The Opioid Epidemic and Need for Parity in Pain Treatment

The ongoing opioid epidemic has touched almost every American in one way or another, emphasizing the need for solutions to prevent addiction. Learn how parity would create equal access to non-opioid treatment options and prevent addiction before it begins.
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  1.  Lopez A, Jones J, Menzie AM, Peta S, Ippolito A, Rubin J. An evaluation of the prevalence of acute and chronic pain medication use in the United States: a real-world database analysis. Presented at: ASRA Annual Pain Medicine Meeting; November 10-11, 2023; New Orleans, LA.
  2. About Prescription Opioids. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/about/prescription-opioids.html.  
  3. Dydyk AM, Jain NK, Gupta M. Opioid Use Disorder. StatPearls. January 17, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553166/