Funder

Office on Women’s Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Program Goal

Determine if patient and provider education, combined with service delivery enhancements, can improve pain management and prevent opioid dependence among female patients ages 50+ at community health centers in San Diego and Riverside counties. The program aims to modify the existing evidence-based pain management program at UCSD for patients in FQHCs using a human centered design approach.

About

The United States is in the middle of an opioid epidemic and the highest rise in overdose death rates is among middle-aged women. The University of California, San Diego (UCSD), under the direction of pain expert Mark Wallace, MD, has developed an evidenced-based approach to treating chronic pain using alternatives to opioid treatment.

Before beginning any service delivery, Health Center Partners (HCP) will partner with community health centers to utilize a human-centered design approach to modify the current UCSD chronic pain management program and tailor it for use by community health centers. Modifications will be made to accommodate the population with respect to language and cultural, as well as financial barriers patients encounter, as this population is typically low income, ethnically diverse and utilizes Medicaid.