Compass Opioid Stewardship 2026 Virtual Symposium-CME Paid Option-2026 OPPS Symposium Video

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The transcript captures a virtual COMPASS clinician conference on chronic pain management. The agenda includes an overview of 2026 pain-care challenges, literature updates, practical “quick-hit” sessions, and roundtable discussion. The opening lecture reviews a tougher prescribing environment: opioid prescribing has dropped >50% since 2012, fewer clinicians accept chronic opioid patients, and legal/board scrutiny has increased. The speaker emphasizes that both reckless prescribing and abrupt opioid dose cuts can trigger serious legal consequences and patient harm. Pharmacy refusals and shortages are also common; COMPASS provides step-by-step tools for navigating pharmacy barriers.<br /><br />Using a complex case (older patient on high-dose opioids plus benzodiazepines and gabapentin), the speaker outlines a structured onboarding approach: long first visit focused on listening and safety basics (PDMP, agreements, urine drug testing, naloxone), followed by a second visit emphasizing pain education (nociception vs pain vs suffering; nociceptive/neuropathic/nociplastic pain) and multimodal care (sleep, movement, knowledge, psychology, medication review). Risk stratification should guide visit frequency and monitoring. Aberrancies (e.g., early refills, unexpected tox results, overdose) require consistent, compassionate “aberrancy management,” including considering buprenorphine and treating substance use disorder rather than patient abandonment.<br /><br />A literature review highlights: limited benefit and meaningful harms with tramadol; potential cognitive risks with repeated gabapentin exposure; durable benefits from CBT, mindfulness, lifestyle change, acupressure, and walking for low back pain; mixed harms of continuing vs tapering long-term opioids; telehealth CBT effectiveness; modest gains from EHR decision support; and possible opioid-sparing effects of regulated medical cannabis programs.<br /><br />Quick sessions cover osteopathic/manual techniques, AI scribes and evidence tools, COMPASS resources, medical board risk, buprenorphine prescribing/rotations, trauma/ACEs and pain sensitization, and benzodiazepine tapering principles emphasizing slow, individualized, shared decision-making.

Keywords

chronic pain management

COMPASS clinician conference

opioid prescribing challenges 2026

opioid tapering risks

PDMP monitoring

urine drug testing

naloxone co-prescribing

pharmacy refusals and shortages

multimodal pain care

nociceptive neuropathic nociplastic pain

aberrancy management

buprenorphine rotation

benzodiazepine tapering

CBT and mindfulness for pain

gabapentin and tramadol safety