Comprehensive Opioid Management in Patient Aligned Care Teams

This study will enroll Veterans with chronic pain who have been receiving opioid medications (like methadone, percocet, oxycontin) on a regular basis for at least 3 months to treat their pain. The purpose of this study is to understand if two automated interventions that are delivered by phone can improve the safe and effective use of opioid medications and the physical functioning of Veterans with chronic pain who take opioid medications. One intervention, opioid monitoring, will include monthly automated calls to the enrolled Veteran to ask questions about their use of the opioid medications, pain relief, side effects, effect of pain on physical activity and mood and satisfaction with pain care. The other intervention, skills training, includes learning pain management skills using automated calls and a self-help book with weekly feedback calls from a nurse. Veterans who are enrolled in this study will be randomly assigned (by chance, like a flip of a coin) to receive either opioid monitoring only, self-management only, self-management plus opioid monitoring or a weekly automated phone call with wellness tips. Everyone enrolled in the study will complete questionnaires about their pain and other pain-related information at the beginning of the trial, after the interventions are completed 12 weeks later, and 3 and 6 months after treatment ends.