The Academy of Integrative Pain Management will cease operations, citing financial problems and other factors, Pain News Network reports.
Four insights:
1. In early 2019, AIPM's board of directors voted unanimously to shut down the organization.
2. For more than three decades, the association advocated for patient access to pain care and promoted a multimodal approach to pain management.
3. AIPM's membership has steadily declined, in part because increased scrutiny regarding opioids has deterred medical school graduates from going into the specialty.
4. AIPM's conference revenues decreased as opioid manufacturers battling lawsuits withdrew support, according to W. Clay Jackson, MD, president of the board of directors.
"This is an incredibly difficult and sad decision," said Bob Twillman, PhD, AIPM's executive director. "Our message has never been more relevant than now, amid the nation's opioid crisis, yet we have found it increasingly difficult to maintain the resources needed to sustain our efforts."