Welcome to Opioid Management Group (otherwise known as OMG)
As most of you will know, America has been gripped by an opioid crisis for the past 20 years. The first decade from 2000 to 2010 saw massive increases in opioid prescriptions that triggered the current epidemic of opioid addiction to heroin and fentanyl, killing roughly 130 Americans every day. The second decade from 2011 to 2020 has seen a backlash to opioid prescriptions with fewer and fewer doctors’ offices willing to prescribe opioids.
These 2 developments have left TWO groups of patients in need of compassionate medical care. 1. Patients who have succumbed to opioid addiction 2. Chronic pain patients no longer able to get pain medications OMG serves BOTH these populations in a model we call Seamless Care.
Most pain clinics pressure patient into costly and invasive procedures such as Epidural Steroid Injections, Radiofrequency Ablations, Spinal Cord Stimulators, or Intrathecal Pain Pumps. Patients on pain medications are frequently forced to take injections that don’t help or accept other procedures of dubious benefit. At OMG, we do not perform interventional procedures because we do not believe these interventions provide significant long-term benefit for the majority of pain patients.
Fewer and fewer doctors’ offices are now willing to prescribe opioids. As a result, many chronic pain patients are suffering. At OMG, we continue to prescribe opioids, but we can do so ONLY IF we can determine that the medications we prescribe are being taken properly. Making sure medications are being taken properly is known as compliance monitoring and it is at the core of what we do.
Most pain clinics fire patients at the slightest indication of possible abuse, while most addiction clinics will not deal with any pain issues. Yet, addicted patients can also suffer from painful conditions while pain patients sometimes lose control of their opioid use.
The specter of addiction is the main problem of prescribing opioid medications. As addiction specialists, we at OMG are uniquely situated to treat pain, identifying patients losing control of their opioid use, and to intervene appropriately.