Facebook Live with Todd M. Hess MD and Cammie LaValle | Minnesota Intractable Pain Bill, Advocacy

Watch as our guests discuss the Minnesota Intractable Pain Bill, advocacy efforts, future legislation, and what patients, advocates and caregivers can do to get involved in their state.
Dr. Hess is Board-certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Management. He is a medical director with over 31 years of experience overseeing medical practices from the ground up. Dr. Hess has a successful track record of developing strong administrative and healthcare teams and he is committed to continuous clinical quality improvement and business growth. Dr. Hess has done significant work with pain medical-legal cases involving Worker’s Compensation and Injuries and extensive work with legislative process on behalf of pain patients and providers. He has many roles under this belt, but from 1994 to 2022 he was the Medical Director of the United Pain Center at United Hospital and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Cammie LaValle resides in Minnesota with her extremely supportive husband Dan. Cammie developed CRPS in 2013 after a carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand. Like most people with CRPS, the diagnosis was not quick, and to find physicians well versed in CRPS was extremely challenging. The CRPS gradually spread to other areas of her body, eventually becoming systemic and rendering her disabled in 2016. Prior to the surgery, Cammie operated her own consulting business providing paralegal services to numerous law firms in addition to contracting with a Minnesota Union as a Membership Specialist.
Recently, Cammie received a call from the Minnesota Council on Disability, informing her she was nominated for and won an Exceptional Advocate Award. The award is a recognition of individuals, or groups, based on their advocacy efforts that contribute to a better life for people with disabilities in Minnesota. You can learn more about the award here: bit.ly/43EyZWE
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Read the Minnesota Intractable Pain Statute here: www.revisor.mn...
Check out Cammie and Dr. Hess on the news! "MN law change, now in effect, could be life-saving for chronic pain patients": bit.ly/3s1xSDd
View the Patient Abandonment and Forced Opioid Taper Questionnaire Results as of August 2, 2023 here: bit.ly/456NqDW
To learn more about complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), visit Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA)’s website at rsds.org.
#RSDSA #CRPS #RSD

[@missliz6361]

❤❤❤❤ love Dr Hess. He saved my life. ❤❤❤❤

[@jerrydarvell6351]

Dr Hess was one of the Best Doctors I have seen for RSD

[@caries3263]

Miss Dr Hess

[@user-gj4up6xx7h]

I'm not sure how to get thru to talk now but I began my pain path with Dr. He's. He treated me with many different things and we found what works for me. I was then able to go to my primary care Dr. and he just continues what Dr. Hess figure d out and started. Thank you!!(

[@josephbliskowski2759]

Thank you.

[@daniellemroz8548]

Thank you for having Integrity.

[@B.-zb2yc]

"He is Risen!" The Spirit led me to you all after 2 years of prayer!

[@RSDSA]

Best quotes from the live: "We as pain patients have to fight for our lives. We shouldn't have to, but we do." "We're not victims, we're victors"

[@kahlernygard809]

Chris Hess is a Rockstar.

[@Kay-gb3pt]

Thank you for this presentation. I was recently diagnosed with CRPS and I have been reading about this issue with pain medication and it’s a scary thing to think you may need pain medication but cannot get it.

[@RSDSA]

Please email us at [e-mail] if you need any assistance.

[@RSDSA]

Advocacy helpful hints Todd M. Hess, MD: Show up. Listen Educate Build relationships. Be calm, show compassion and passion, but NOT anger. Meet individually with legislators. Follow up after you meet. Testify Write letters. Stay optimistic. Stay engaged. Build coalitions. Know the key players on the issue. If you fear retaliation, it is Ok to send concerns anonymously directly to the legislator, or someone like Cammie and me who are willing to take up the concern. IE: COMMUNICATE Team up with like-minded colleagues. Stay in the literature and engaged.

[@caries3263]

I’ve had Crps since 2005. So can understand.

[@caries3263]

Awesome Cammie

[@RSDSA]

Cammie LaValle resides in Minnesota with her extremely supportive husband Dan. They have been married for over twenty years and have two adult children who are now on their own and living their best life. Cammie developed CRPS in 2013 after a carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand. Like most people with CRPS, the diagnosis was not quick, and to find physicians well versed in CRPS was extremely challenging. Navigating the healthcare system still has its challenges, even after ten years. The CRPS gradually spread to other areas of her body, eventually becoming systemic and rendering her disabled in 2016. Prior to the surgery, Cammie operated her own consulting business providing paralegal services to numerous law firms in addition to contracting with a Minnesota Union as a Membership Specialist. She also has experience as a Private Investigator and worked part-time in the hospitality industry for over twenty years. Cammie started her advocacy efforts in 2015 and does not plan to stop anytime soon. When she started on the advocacy journey, she did not know what she was doing, but knew she had to do something. What started with calls and emails to state and federal legislators, the CDC, NORD and CRPS/RSD organizations, has morphed into drafting legislation, working with legislators, testifying in Minnesota House and Senate, attending state agency meetings, medical board meetings and becoming a citizen lobbyist to advocate on behalf of people with pain, rare diseases and disabilities. Cammie and other advocates in the state have had numerous interviews with media to raise awareness of patient harm, rare diseases, misapplied policies, and laws passing. Legislation efforts began in 2018 and that is when she started drafting a bill to amend the Minnesota Intractable Pain Statute. With no experience drafting legislation, it was quite the process. Emails, calls, and meetings with legislators eventually led to finding a sponsor for the bill, which is necessary for any legislation. The bill was first introduced during the 2019 session and kept getting introduced throughout the years, hoping a hearing would be granted. After years of relentless advocacy and lobbying legislators, a hearing was finally granted in 2022. The catalyst was a Minnesota Pain Management Specialist and Anesthesiologist, Dr. Todd Hess, agreeing to meet with legislators. Once Dr. Hess was involved, things moved quickly, and more people took notice. To this day, Cammie and Dr. Hess actively work with legislators and others to improve healthcare in Minnesota, with a focus on protecting the patient and doctor relationship and removing the barriers put in place by the misapplied and misinterpreted CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines and subsequent policies implemented in Minnesota, which have harmed patients and put a target on all prescribers of opioid analgesics. In May of 2022, the bill passed into law and became effective on August 1, 2022. Cammie worked on legislation during the 2023 session as well and was heavily involved in trying to repeal the Minnesota Opioid Prescribing Improvement Program, which is the umbrella program for the Minnesota Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, the prior Opioid Work Group, and the Quality Improvement Program. The Quality Improvement Program in Minnesota is specific to Medicaid and MinnesotaCare enrollees and their providers who are signed up with the state to take Medicaid and MinnesotaCare. Medicaid and MinnesotaCare patients were being force tapered solely to meet an arbitrary MME, even when medications were benefiting the patient and allowing more function, less pain, and a better quality of life. Working with many others in these efforts, the Minnesota Opioid Prescribing Improvement Program will now sunset (end) by December of 2024 if not sooner. This will stop discriminatory policies against an already vulnerable population. Cammie is working on more state legislation for the next session and continues to reach out to federal lawmakers requesting meetings in hopes to gain traction on a federal level. She has also assisted, when asked, in other states that are working on legislation and will continue to try to help other states in any way she can. In addition to what is currently happening, Cammie also has a goal of creating a non-profit in Minnesota in addition to hopefully working with pain specialists, CRPS specialists, surgeons, and physical therapist to create CME’s specifically on CRPS. Recently, Cammie received a call from the Minnesota Council on Disability, informing her she was nominated for and will be receiving an Exceptional Advocate Award, which is recognition of individuals or groups, throughout their advocacy, which contributed to a better life for people with disabilities in Minnesota.

[@daniellemroz8548]

Good bio.

[@daniellemroz8548]

I tried reaching out to my doctor, pleading and begging for my life. I was employed full time on stable opiods for over 5 years for very painful bladder disease interstitial cystitis. I don't know how I am going to survive e now. I have about 8 tablets left. I was completely mentally emotionally and physically broken. Social workers in the hospital couldn't even help me. My doctor said I was TERMINATED . nobody will help me now. It's a death sentence. I was planning my first homeownership. Instead I put money into 2 CDs for my adult sons whom I am sure would rather have their mom and years of family holidays and memories but I can't give them that and unable to work I refuse to leave them nothing. I could hold on for months before the pain ends me or end it on my own terms. I visited everyone who mattered while I still could. I was only given 1 month before the tapper is so low the pain is out I of control. I won't let them see me this way. I tried advocating. I've had this flicking bladder disease my whole adult life. What are the compromising or other rules written in? Because I had no recourse.

[@GoldenSkeeter]

tyvm - for the algo

[@caries3263]

How do we can keep in touch Dr Hess?

[@caries3263]

I wish I could have been apart of this

[@caries3263]

Live in the south. Most providers don’t even know what CRPS.

[@RSDSA]

Please send us an email at [e-mail] so we can send you a list for your state.

[@user-gj4up6xx7h]

Is there a way to contact Cammie to help in some way? I saw Dr Hess for quite some time, I would love to get involved and help you with whatever you could use help with. I certainly have a story to tell!

[@caries3263]

Where is the survey?

[@caries3263]

Feel like a criminal

[@daniellemroz8548]

People with chemical dependency shouldn't be abandoned from stable treatment for failure of a drug screen either.

[@daniellemroz8548]

Catch more flies with honey.

[@tannycourtad2858]

😊 *PromoSM*