03 May John Prunskis, MD Appointed and Confirmed to Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Task Force in Washington, D.C.
Dr. John Prunskis, co-founder and co-medical director of the Illinois Pain Institute, has recently accepted a position on The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) new Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force (Pain Task Force). Dr. Prunskis, who has been voted by his colleagues as a “Top Pain Doctor” in Chicago an unprecedented nine times, will work closely with other leading pain management physician stakeholders from across the country to assist HHS in establishing fundamental best practices and recommendations for the management of chronic and acute pain. Members include representatives from the medical community, Department of Defense, Behavioral and Addiction Specialists, members of the Department of Veteran Affairs, National Institute of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Prunskis was the only individual from Illinois selected for the Pain Task Force.
“I hope to learn from the other members of the Pain Task Force as well as contribute what the Illinois Pain Institute has accomplished in reducing opioid use and abuse by precisely diagnosing and treating the source of pain rather than masking the symptoms,” Dr. Prunskis says. “My goal is to help make sure that the Pain Task Force has meaningful input in solving the opiate narcotic epidemic in the USA.”
The Illinois Pain Institute, a multi-site pain diagnosis and management facility with eight locations in the Chicagoland area, is a national leader in the treatment of painful conditions rather than just masking the symptoms with medication by tracing pain to its root cause. Illinois Pain Institute physicians are able to offer targeted therapies that treat pain efficiently while reducing or eliminating need for narcotic pain killers. The approach is finally growing in popularity as awareness of the opioid epidemic increases.
The Task Force, which will be overseen by HHS, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Defense, was authorized by section 101 of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. The four main goals of the Task Force, as outlined by HHS, are:
- Determining whether there are gaps or inconsistencies in pain management best practices among federal agencies;
- Proposing updates to best practices and recommendations on addressing gaps or inconsistencies;
- Providing the public with an opportunity to comment on any proposed updates and recommendations; and
- Developing a strategy for disseminating information about best practices.
The Task Force will hold its inaugural public meeting on May 30, 2018, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, and on May 31, 2018, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C.
For more information about Dr. John Prunskis and the Illinois Pain Institute, contact Mary at mal@illinoispain.com or call (224) 535-7012.