ISIS Helps Improve New CO Workers’ Compensation Back and Neck Pain Treatment Guidelines

The new Colorado Workers’ Compensation Low Back Pain and Cervical Injury Treatment Guidelines were posted earlier this week. These are a culmination of almost a year’s worth of work and revision by the leaders of the Colorado Division of Labor, the Treatment Guidelines Task Force, The Treatment Guidelines Advisory Panel, a group of Colorado physicians, and the very welcome help of the International Spine Intervention Society (ISIS).

The originally released draft of these Treatment Guidelines was very restrictive with respect to patient access to spine intervention (injection) care. They were based on a very narrow interpretation of the available evidence, using a somewhat biased “Evidence-based Medicine” approach, with an overemphasis on cost savings. See the Evidence-based Medicine discussion on this website. The advisory panel and a group of Colorado physicians enlisted the help of ISIS to help support revisions to these original drafts. ISIS worked tirelessly, under very short time restraints, to produce a written statement of recommended improvements to the guidelines, and the leaders of the CO Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Workers’ Compensation, showed great wisdom in adopting many of those proposals. Denver Back Pain Specialists would like to thank all of those involved in the creation of these guidelines, especially ISIS.

Disclosure (J. Scott Bainbridge, M.D.): Dr. Bainbridge served on the Treatment Guidelines Advisory Panel, presented the ISIS recommendations at the November 19, 2013 public hearings, and is a former member of the ISIS Board of Directors.