October 2026 President's Message
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
One of the strengths of the American Academy of Pain Medicine is the expertise, commitment, and leadership our members bring to the Academy and to the field of Pain Medicine. As we look toward 2027 and beyond, there are many opportunities to contribute, stay engaged, and help shape the future of our professional community.
AAPM Nominations and Elections
AAPM’s annual nominations and election process will begin this month, and I encourage you to consider how you, or an AAPM colleague whose leadership you value, might contribute to the Academy. Keep an eye out for more detailed information when the call opens.
The Call for Nominations opens October 12 and closes November 4. Elections will open December 1 and close January 3, 2027, with results announced on January 18.
Before the process begins, please take a moment to log in to painmed.org and review your member profile, including your contact information. Keeping your profile current will help ensure that you receive important election notices and other communications from the Academy.
October 12 will also mark the opening of nominations for the AAPM Awards and Pain Fellowship Excellence Awards. These awards provide an important opportunity to recognize individuals and programs whose work advances Pain Medicine, strengthens education, and contributes to our profession. I encourage you to consider colleagues and fellowship programs deserving of recognition.
Preparing for the Ambulatory Specialty Model and Value-Based Care Reimbursement
As I shared in my July and September messages, the transition toward value-based care will have important implications for Pain Medicine. CMS will implement the Ambulatory Specialty Model beginning January 1, 2027, making it increasingly important for physicians and practices to understand how quality, outcomes, function, and cost will be measured.
Our recent Value-Based Care Fireside Chat will be available on demand beginning October 6. If you couldn't join us live, I encourage you to watch the conversation and explore other resources in AAPM’s Value-Based Care Educational Series.
These changes will require all of us to think beyond reimbursement alone. They challenge our field to demonstrate the value of comprehensive, evidence-based pain care through outcomes that matter to our patients, including function, quality of life, and meaningful participation in daily life.
Charting AAPM’s North Star
As our health care environment changes, AAPM is also looking intentionally toward its own future.
Over the past several months, your Board of Directors and Academy leadership have been developing our North Star Strategy, which will guide AAPM through 2029. Our destination is clear: to strengthen AAPM as the nationally recognized, scientifically credible voice for Pain Medicine; make the Academy a professional home that physicians and pain professionals never outgrow; and build the financial strength necessary to sustain that work.
A strategy only matters if it changes what we do. As we move into annual planning and budgeting for 2027, the North Star will help us make more disciplined decisions about where we invest our time, resources, and leadership attention. It will also help ensure that the programs we build create meaningful value for our members and advance the specialty.
I look forward to sharing more as this work moves from strategy into implementation.
New Acute Low Back Pain Guideline
Finally, I am very pleased that on October 1st, AAPM announced our new Clinical Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Management of Acute Low Back Pain.
This work reflects exactly the kind of contribution I believe AAPM is uniquely positioned to make: bringing scientific rigor and multidisciplinary expertise together to translate evidence into practical guidance for clinicians and patients.
I want to extend my sincere thanks to our partners at the Oregon Health & Science University Evidence-based Practice Center and Aggregate Analytics, Inc., as well as the many AAPM volunteers and experts who contributed their time and expertise to this initiative. Work of this scope is possible only because of their commitment.
I encourage you to explore the guideline and its accompanying clinical and patient resources. AAPM is also offering a free 1.5-credit continuing education course related to the guideline, with credit available for physicians, pharmacists, chiropractors, and nurses. Please take advantage of this opportunity and share these resources with colleagues who care for patients experiencing acute low back pain.
From developing evidence-based guidance to preparing members for changes in health care and creating pathways for future leaders, each of these initiatives reflects the same larger purpose: strengthening our Academy so that we can better serve our members, our specialty, and ultimately our patients.
Thank you for your continued engagement and commitment to AAPM.
Warm regards,
Marie Hanna, MD, MEHP
AAPM President