Memorial Hospital: Pain Management Group vs. Pill Mills

The need for public awareness and education about “pill mills” has become evident, as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), as well as many state health agencies, has recently cracked down on physicians who abuse their privilege to write prescriptions.

Memorial Hospital’s pain management team takes this topic very seriously and feels that it is our responsibility to educate hospitals, patients and communities on:

1. pill mills and the negative impact they have on our communities
2. what a balanced approach to pain looks like and
3. the differences between the two. 

Pill mills and the negative impact they have on our communities

Pill Mills market themselves as "pain clinics" but operate in a manner far different from the balanced approach to pain of reputable pain management centers. In fact, pill mills are playing a major role in accelerating and exacerbating the prescription drug addiction epidemic and accidental death by pain medication in the United States. In Ohio alone, four Ohioans die every single day from prescription drug overdose. In addition, accidental drug overdose by prescription drugs is the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio, surpassing car crashes.

Numerous U.S. states have drafted legislation to address pill mills and increase requirements, audits and certifications of reputable pain clinics. While Memorial Hospital’s pain management team welcomes this, we also see the need to directly address the increasing atmosphere of distrust that has made the legitimate practice of pain management increasingly difficult.

Balanced approach to pain management

The American Board of Pain Medicine defines the specialty as “a discipline within the field of medicine that is concerned with the prevention of pain, and the evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation of persons in pain.” In order to become trained in the field of pain management, physicians must complete full specialty training in anesthesiology, physical medicine & rehabilitation (PM&R), neurology or psychiatry.

After completing one of these residencies (requiring four years beyond graduation from medical school), the physician then completes additional one-to-two years fellowship training in the sub-specialized field of pain management. Often, this additional training involves learning interventional spine procedures and non-surgical peripheral joint care as well as management of medication for both acute and chronic care. By the time physicians have completed these minimum of five years of post-medical school training, they are trained in more than just signing a prescription.

Memorial Hospital’s pain management team has a balanced approach to pain, treating patients through a combination of diagnostics, interventional treatment, physical modalities and therapy, while decreasing the focus onprescription medication. If prescription drugs are included in a balanced pain treatment plan, the focus becomes managing those medications for optimal patient benefit.

About the Author:
Thomas F. Kindl is a physician at Memorial Hospital's Midwest Pain Treatment Center. He is Board Certified in Pain Management and Anesthesiology. His residency training in Anesthesiology took place at the Medical University of Ohio at Toledo. Dr. Kindl completed an ACGME accredited Fellowship in Pain Management at the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor, Michigan and a Surgical Internship at Louisiana State University Hospitals in New Orleans, Lousiana.

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