The overutilization of opioids by clinicians and health systems is one of the major drivers of the nation’s opioid epidemic. In addition to the long-term risks of dependence and addiction associated with opioid use and prescription, the evidence is clear that opioids are ineffective for management of many painful conditions and may, in some cases, complicate pain management.
The misconception that opioids are the gold-standard for pain management is outdated and refuted by significant medical research. Multimodal analgesia with nonpharmacologic, nonopioid and opioid options is the gold standard for pain control in 2022 and beyond. Clinicians can use advanced pain management to treat pain more effectively while simultaneously reducing the risks associated with opioid exposure.
SOC spearheads the Compass Opioid Stewardship Certificate Program, a national program that advances opioid stewardship and multimodal pain control for primary care providers.
Dr. Stader and his team have developed and implemented alternatives to opioids (ie ALTO) programs in emergency departments and hospitals across the nation. Dr. Stader and Rachael Duncan, PharmD founded the nation’s second emergency department ALTO program, published the first academic study showing the effectiveness of emergency department ALTO programs, and created the nation’s first guidelines promoting ALTO as standard of emergency department care. They then went on to expand the success of ALTO into the majority of Colorado emergency departments through the Colorado ALTO Project and helped develop and implement the Hospital Medicine ALTO Project as well.
SOC’s clinicians have been leaders in the effort to promote use of multimodal analgesia for other medical specialties, crafting advanced pain management guidelines through the CO’s CURE Initiative for hospitalists, obstetrician-gynecologists, occupational and environmentalists, surgeons and anesthesiologists, dentists, and pharmacists.
The consultants at SOC have trained more than one hundred hospitals and thousands of clinicians across the country in advanced pain management.
In addition, Dr. Stader has been instrumental in lobbying for federal law to help fund ALTO through the ALTO Act of 2018.
SOC is dedicated to helping hospital systems, physician groups and health departments develop and implement effective, evidence-based programs to improve pain management and decrease opioid use.
The misconception that opioids are the gold-standard for pain management is outdated and dangerous. By utilizing multimodal analgesia with alternatives to opioids (ALTO), clinicians can treat pain more effectively while simultaneously reducing the risks associated with opioid exposure. Dr. Stader and his team have developed and implemented ALTO programs in emergency departments and hospitals across the nation. Dr. Stader and Rachael Duncan, PharmD founded the nation’s second emergency department ALTO program, published the first academic study showing the effectiveness of emergency department ALTO programs and created the nation’s first guidelines promoting ALTO as standard of emergency department care. SOC’s clinicians have been leaders in efforts to promote use of multimodal analgesia and ALTO programs for other medical specialties, crafting pain management guidelines for hospitalists, obstetrician-gynecologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists and dentists, with guidelines for other specialties currently under development. The consultants at SOC have trained more than one hundred hospitals and thousands of clinicians across the country. In addition, Dr. Stader has been instrumental in lobbying for federal law to help fund ALTO. SOC is dedicated to helping hospital systems, physician groups and health departments develop and implement effective, evidence-based programs to improve pain management and decrease opioid use.