Through the generosity of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Office of the State Drug Director, and in partnership with the Arkansas Medical Society, the Arkansas Academy of Family Medicine, the Arkansas Department of Health, and the Arkansas State Medical Board, UAMS is launching AR-IMPACT (Improving Multi-disciplinary Pain Care and Treatment) for Arkansas physicians to better manage chronic pain patients and those who need their opioid dosage reduced.
AR-IMPACT is a weekly free interactive televideo program offering free CME credit. The first conference is scheduled for May 2 and will continue to be held each Wednesday, from 12 to 1 p.m. The interactive conferences will begin with a brief didactic presentation about an aspect of the care of these patients, followed by a case conference format where doctors can present their difficult cases for discussion with their peers and with our panel of subspecialists.
G. Richard Smith, M.D., is the medical director of the Drug and Misuse and Injury Prevention Branch and a professor in the departments of Psychiatry, Medicine and Public Health at UAMS. Here he explains the concept for the creation of AR-IMPACT.