Chronic Pain Among Service Members: Using Administrative Data to Strengthen Research and Quality Improvement

Abstract

C hronic pain is prevalent among U.S. military personnel and is frequently comorbid with behavioral health disorders and other medical conditions that further complicate its management. Injuries and medical conditions that cause pain—particularly those that result in chronic pain—can reduce service members’ medical readiness and performance (Abraham et al., 2020; Bernard et al., 2019; Fodeh et al., 2018; Molloy et al., 2020b; Nayback-Beebe et al., 2017) and can increase their risk of longer-term adverse health outcomes (McGeary et al., 2016). Effective treatment of chronic pain can mitigate these harms by improving services members’ pain symptoms, functioning, and readiness for military duty (Gatchel et al., 2009). Accordingly, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Military Health System (MHS) have invested in research and clinical innovations to support the adoption of evidence-based models of chronic pain treatment, with the goal of improving service members’ health and readiness through improved pain management (DoD, 2021; Westfall, 2019). Quality measurement is an essential component of efforts to improve chronic pain treatment for service members. The Institute of Medicine defines health care quality as “the C O R P O R A T I O N