The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society Issue 5 Volume 115 | Page 6

by CASEY L. PENN
A Closer Look at AR-IMPACT
Accessible, Relevant CE for Prescribers Navigating Pain
Management During the Opioid Epidemic
L
ast month in The Journal, we
touched on a new continuing
education seminar, AR-IMPACT
(Improving Multi-Disciplinary Pain
Care Treatment). This month, we bring you
a closer look at this free resource that has the po-
tential to add more to your prescribed treatment
regimen than a few required hours.
“Even as a facilitator and panel member, I
can say that my practice has been dramatically
improved,” said AR-IMPACT Panelist Johnathan
Goree, MD. An anesthesiologist and director of In-
terventional Pain Management Services at UAMS,
Dr. Goree treats chronic pain conditions using
opiate-sparing, minimally invasive procedures and
conducts associated research. “I’ve developed re-
lationships with skilled providers that I can consult
when I encounter problems, and I have learned
things that have transformed my practice. I hope
physicians who [participate in] our calls have the
same experience.”
AR-IMPACT was a creation of G. Richard
Smith, M.D., medical director of the Drug and Mis-
use and Injury Prevention Branch and a professor in
the departments of Psychiatry, Medicine and Public
Health at UAMS. In a video explaining the concept,
Smith said, “We are all concerned about the opioid
epidemic, especially here in Arkansas, where we
have the second highest rate of opioid-prescribing
in the nation.
“Much of the opioid problem extends be-
yond health care. Those of us who are health care
providers need to do our part to reduce unneces-
sary reliance on opioid in the care of patients with
chronic pain. This weekly, free CME conference is
designed to help prescribers improve the treatment
of chronic pain.”
Structure & Topics
AR-IMPACT is delivered via tele-video con-
ference at noon on Wednesdays. Seminars are
streamed real-time from arimpact.uams.edu.
However, participants who prefer may also partici-
pate on-site in Conference Room 136 of the UAMS
Psychiatric Research Institute. (Parking coverage is
available for individuals participating onsite.) macy, pain management, and general medicine/
geriatrics/palliative care. In addition to Drs. Ray-
Griffith and Goree, they include Michael Cucci-
are, Ph.D.; Masil George, MD, Leah Tobey, PT,
DPT; and Teresa Hudson, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Weekly seminars are free for the taking –
for now. “We have funding through March 2019
currently,” said AR-IMPACT Director Corey Hayes,
Pharm.D, MPH, who has applied for and hopes to
receive funding to cover an additional year. The
program is presented by UAMS and funded by
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Of-
fice of the State Drug Director, and in partnership
with the Arkansas Medical Society, the Arkansas
Academy of Family Medicine, the Arkansas De-
partment of Health, and the Arkansas State Medi-
cal Board. Topics vary, but always focus on some as-
pect of chronic pain. Hayes, a pharmacist, has
presented a summary of the 2016 CDC guidelines
on prescribing for chronic pain and discussed
how to interpret the new Prescriber Feedback
Reports issued by the Arkansas Department of
Health. Dr. Ray-Griffith has presented about ad-
diction and the use of buprenorphine for chronic
pain, and she recently presented a discussion of
patient-centered research comparing opioids to
non-opioid therapies for chronic pain.**
Hayes is an assistant professor of health
services research at UAMS’s Psychiatric Re-
search Institute and a research health scientist
for Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare Sys-
tem. He told The Journal that AR-IMPACT was
designed to help prescribers manage their pa-
tients with chronic pain and related anomalies
while minimizing the use of and/or tapering opi-
oids where possible.
Each seminar begins with a brief presentation
by AR-IMPACT panelists and ends with discussion
and instruction related to real patient cases. Guest
speakers present periodically as well. “We were
chosen based on our ability to provide expertise
in areas centered around opioid use,” said Panel-
ist Shona Ray-Griffith, MD, a perinatal psychiatrist
and assistant professor in UAMS’s Departments of
Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology. “In my
practice, I understand and treat mental illness, of
course, but also addiction – specifically opiate use
disorder. My role is to speak to these issues, which
are fundamental to the treatment of chronic pain.”
Panelists hold expertise in addiction manage-
ment, psychology, physical therapy, clinical phar-
102 • THE JOURNAL OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY
Those are but a few examples. Upcoming con-
ference schedules and presenters are listed on the
website – a good place for physicians to start.
“They can pick and choose what is most
helpful at a given time or what simply piques
their interest,” said Dr. Ray-Griffith, who has
found her own interest piqued by topics covered;
these have included Screening for Depression
and Anxiety in Patients with Pain, The Evi-
dence for Medical Marijuana and the Impact
on Opioid Use, Opioid Tapering, and more.“If
participants don’t find a topic they deem helpful,
they’re encouraged to bring their own cases to
the panel for discussion. The presentation por-
tion of each seminar is meant to cover the first
half of the hour. The second half is meant for
prescribers to come to us with a case they want
to talk about. For example, both Dr. Ray-Griffith
and Dr. Goree have presented patient cases from
their own clinics in the past.
“Physicians can verbally speak to us during
the session about a case they’d like to discuss,
or they can write that in real time using the chat
window. Either way, they’ve let us know to keep
the presentation short to leave plenty of time for
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