Pill mills have been in the news quite a lot the past few years, and not in a good way. They dole out millions of narcotic prescriptions annually. Often times the line between doing what’s best for the patient and doing what’s best for the bottom line of the pill mill practice gets very shady at these businesses.

“Comprehensive pain centers are very different from "pill mills". Unfortunately the two practices get associated together in the minds of the public.” states David Greene MD, CEO of a pain management center in Phoenix, Arizona and consultant to National Medical Testing Supply (NMTS).  “With the US in the midst of a full onslaught pain medication epidemic, best practice pain centers are regularly being thought of as pill mills when in fact there are considerable differences.”

Although many patients will purposely seek out pill mills for the obvious reasons, as busy medical professionals we certainly don’t want to be referring patients to one or even thought of as one ourelves.  Here are the top 3 reasons pain management centers are different (in a good way) from your standard Pill Mill: