Pain Specialist Reports 50% Patient Volume Drop, Partly Due to State HTA Committee

Pain Management

Arthur Watanabe, MD, a pain specialist in Spokane, Wash., said his patient volume has diminished by 50 percent, according to an Inlander news report.

While Dr. Watanabe doesn't deny the economy's effect on his practice, he does point to the Washington State Health Technology Assessment Committee as another reason why his patient volume has dropped so dramatically. The committee, made up of 11 physicians, analyzes the efficacy, risk and cost of medical procedures and devices for state employees, Medicaid patients and injured workers, according to the report. The committee then makes decisions on procedures and devices the state will cover.

Among its decisions, the committee has voted to no longer cover spinal cord stimulators. Since then, Dr. Watanabe does 8-10 spinal cord injections a day, compared to 25 a day in the recent past, according to the news report. He believes the HTA committee is directly targeting the pain specialty, but the committee has defended its decisions, citing low-sample sizes in clinical trials of stimulators and zero trials using a placebo group, according to the news report.

Read the news report about the Washington State Health Technology Assessment Committee.

Read other coverage about pain management:

- University Researcher: Pharmacies, Not Physicians, Are Source of Pill Mill Problem

- Study: Knee Joint Pain Influences Muscle Function

- SPR Therapeutics Prepares to Launch Pain Relief Device

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