We welcomed the opportunity to interview Dr. W. L. Lippert, a frequent contributor to our magazine and a pain specialist in Colorado Springs. Lippert has practiced in Colorado Springs for 29 years and is a leader in pain care for our community.
Dr. Lippert, how did you become interested in pain care?
It was a very personal beginning actually. I spent some time in a hospital bed at age 17 with multiple traumas after being injured in a desert motorcycle race. I had a lot of time for reflection. Before I left the hospital three weeks later, the doctors and nurses providing my care and pain relief changed all my perspectives. These events sparked my interest in anesthesia and subsequently the specialty of pain medicine.
What is your background and training for the pain specialty?
I attended medical school at the University of Colorado. I began my training in internal medicine in Arizona and then in anesthesia, ultimately becoming chief resident at the University of Colorado. There I studied under Dr. Philip Bromage, who, quite literally, wrote the book on epidural analgesia. In fact, his first published textbook, Epidural Analgesia, is an epic work that is valued to this day. Obviously, Bromage was a wonderful mentor for injection therapies and pain diagnostics. My anesthesia practice in Colorado always included a focus on regional anesthesia and pain care. The last half of my career has been entirely devoted to the specialty of pain medicine. I am currently board certified by not only the American Board of Anesthesia but also the American Academy of Pain Management.
Do you have special interests in pain medicine?
While I provide comprehensive pain management, I focus on spine pain. I have extensive training in interventional therapies and diagnostics, with my focus being on minimally invasive techniques for dealing with severe pain from spine pathology and cancer.
What are your concerns for pain medicine in the future given our current political environment and economy?
I am very worried about our healthcare system and pain medicine in particular for our patients. Medicare is currently under assault with potentially dramatic limitations in coverage for the future. In the last year I have already seen two vital procedures for pain care come under attack leading to compromised medical care. With a great deal of effort from pain specialists and pain societies, we have been able to re-establish proper pain care in these specific instances…but for how long?
People outside of medicine need to understand that Medicare policy drives all medical insurance. If Medicare makes a decision, for example, to eliminate a specific treatment for pain then private insurers often follow suit. Any treatment an insurance company or Medicare can eliminate saves them money. Elimination of treatments limits the options of doctors and patients for proper care. This domino effect from Medicare to private insurance then captures younger patients who have the “good” private insurance––opportunities for portions of healthcare are removed across the board.
The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), signed by President Obama in 2010, among other things, transfers government funding for medical coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans, in part by transfer of funds from Medicare. In fact, $716 billion ($716,000,000,000.00!) is cut from Medicare to pay for the uninsured! President Obama has stated that he is “strengthening” Medicare with the Act. What our president means by this is he is extending the fiscal life of Medicare by decreasing spending…decreasing spending by decreasing care to Medicare patients!
The Affordable Care Act mandates the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is comprised of 15 members appointed by the president. This panel is charged with reducing the cost of Medicare to adjust for President Obama’s cuts. This panel is pure and simple a rationing board that will determine what treatments and procedures Medicare will pay for, how much they will pay, and what will not be covered at all. Further, the panel will reduce payments to doctors and hospitals, likely reducing the availability of both to patients. While Obamacare has some positive attributes, the likely end result of the Act for the elderly is to dramatically reduce access to medical care and for my clinic––their pain care. I have a high percentage of Medicare patients and I am very fearful for their access to care in the future.
How would you describe your clinic’s approach to pain care?
We have provided expert pain care to the Colorado Springs community as well as many patients from throughout the United States for almost 30 years. Our goal is to provide compassionate, professional pain care in a pleasant environment. We utilize multiple tools for care including not only medical and interventional pain care but also integration of multiple diverse medical specialties, psychiatric support, and physical therapy. We have a clinic that will respond to the smallest or largest of pain problems with serious attention to all patients.
Dr. Lippert we want to thank you for allowing this interview today.
You are very welcome.
