Pain and gain: An Alabama clinic stands out amid data on Medicare payments

By Amy Brittain, David S. Fallis and Dan Keating, WashPost, Published: May 10

Nearly 20 patients packed the waiting lobby of the Alabama Pain Center before 10 a.m. on a warm April day. Crosses and biblical passages adorned the walls. In a hallway, a painting titled “The Great Physician” depicted Jesus assisting a doctor in the operating room.

Afflicted by pain from spinal injuries, botched surgeries or rare nerve conditions, patients from Tennessee, Georgia and Florida have flocked across state lines to see K. Dean Willis, a tanned anesthesiologist with salt-and-pepper hair who says he is among the top 30 experts on the use of pain pumps.

Implanted under the skin, the pump looks like a titanium hockey puck. High-powered drugs are custom-mixed on site, injected into the pump and carried by catheter into the spinal fluid. When the pump runs low, the patient returns to have it refilled, like a gas tank.

Although some experts consider the implanted pain pump to be an unusual and controversial last resort of pain management, it has become a signature treatment at the Alabama Pain Center.

(More here.)