what is non-interventional pain? to me, it is opioids. we can say multi-modal, blah blah all day, but the long and short of it, this is an opioid prescription doctor. do you think they would hire a "non-interventional doc" that doesnt write narcotics? i can see writing narcotics in instances where you (the pain doc) feels that it is appropriate, but when you are the non-interventional guy, they will assume you will take over narcs on ALL patients, and the push will not be to prescribe meds to the APPROPRIATE patient (which in my opinion is so low, that this whole non-interventinal doc thing to me doesnt make any sense anyway) but to AS MANY patients as possible.
lets be honest a "stable med patient" is gold mine. every month or whenever your feel f/u is appropriate, 5 minute visit, UDS makes a little money here an there... there is a reason these are handled by mid levels... but again, i dont think there are too many truly "stable" pain patients on opiates long-term, so either they are being mis-managed by given meds they dont need or shouldnt have, or their issues have been placed in a box that is treated "effectively" by whatever re-fill they get monthly in their 5 minute visit...a reason why i dont have too many stable med patients. I have some, and my NP does see them 2-3 out of every 4 visits, but i still see them. this is not a big number for me...
so yeah, i dont get it. a pain doc should do procedures as necessary, and write meds as necessary. when we separate these two completely, each one will do whatever at high volumes as they lack perspective and likely understanding about the patient.