Intractable Pain and the Georgia Medical Cannabis Card

“Intractable pain”

Proof of a qualifying diagnosis is required. Certification is a clinical decision by the physician, and no outcome is promised. Certification is not a prescription.

Pain management or treating physician notes showing duration, imaging, procedure reports, and documented failed prior treatments.

• Intractable pain documentation has to show two things: duration and the history of prior treatment. The records that do this come from pain management, but also from orthopedics, neurosurgery, neurology, rheumatology or primary care — any clinician who has treated the pain over time. A note stating the pain has persisted for months or years and describing what has been tried is the core of the file.
• Concrete supporting records include imaging that identifies a structural cause such as MRI of the spine, physical therapy discharge summaries, injection or procedure reports such as epidural steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation or nerve blocks, surgical operative notes, and medication trials documented in the chart. The pattern the records need to show is that reasonable prior treatment did not produce adequate relief.

Dr. Shri Parimi has practiced pain management in Marietta for two decades, and intractable pain is a qualifying condition under Georgia law. Patients with chronic pain are in his primary clinical specialty — this is the area he has worked in throughout his career, not an adjacent one. That means the history-taking and record review at the visit are being done by a physician who reads pain management records every working day.

The process is the same for every qualifying diagnosis: you book and pay on the telehealth platform, complete your intake forms, and upload your diagnosis documentation and identification. Once that is complete your appointment is confirmed. You join by video, Dr. Shri Parimi verifies your identification and reviews your documentation and history with you, and makes a clinical decision. After a successful visit the State of Georgia emails you, you pay the state fee, and the card is mailed to you. See the six steps in detail or review the two separate fees.

Many patients do not have their documentation in hand, and that is workable. You can ask Dr. Shri Parimi to request records from your treating physician with your written permission, or bring what you already have — a discharge summary, a portal printout, a laboratory result — and discuss the rest at the visit. Proof of a qualifying diagnosis is required before any certification can be made, so the earlier you start gathering records, the smoother the visit.

• ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
• Alzheimer's Disease
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Cancer
• Epidermolysis Bullosa
• Hospice Care

See all 18 qualifying conditions