In starting up the interdisciplinary team, consultants with expertise in healthcare group dynamics can be used to lead a team of stakeholders, including individuals with chronic pain, advocacy groups, clinicians, and payers, in identifying a care protocol, achieving group consensus, and applying evidence-based practices.

Designation and training of care managers for the interdisciplinary pain teams is a consistent strategy seen across effectiveness studies. Once protocols are established, care managers, typically nurses, are tasked with leading and facilitating team meetings, managing interprofessional dynamics, and relaying team treatment recommendations to individuals with pain. Care managers play a crucial role in the success of interprofessional dynamics within the team and in facilitating effective communication with patients, ultimately promoting patient-centered care.

Educational workshops, especially interprofessional trainings, are frequently used to improve clinician knowledge. Topics of these sessions can include an overview of the scope of practice of participating providers, interdisciplinary approaches to chronic pain treatment, case conceptualization, effective collaboration and communication processes, cross-disciplinary shadowing, and ongoing webinars. Recommendations for these trainings include shorter, more frequent sessions, hands-on training, and education on the effectiveness of various pain treatments.

Interdisciplinary care delivered via telehealth can be feasible and is associated with decreased rates of duplicative or low-value interventional procedures, imaging, and prescriptions.

Change cycling strategies, such as Lean Six Sigma, can be effective in redesigning interdisciplinary pain team programs. Stakeholders, including intervention recipients, clinicians, administrators, and/or payers, participate in identifying opportunities for change in current team processes, understanding the goal of the interdisciplinary program, identifying potential causes of inefficiencies, iteratively testing solutions, and identifying lessons learned.

Clinical pharmacists can provide additional support to interdisciplinary teams in their management of patients on higher-risk medication regimens to help reduce clinical burden on other team members and improve patient satisfaction; specifically, clinical pharmacists' responsibilities can include ongoing reassessment, monitoring, and management of medication regimens (including opioid therapy).

Revising a provider’s role or introducing a certified health coach to the interdisciplinary team can improve patient engagement and improve care processes. The health coach collaborates with patients to set goals for pain management and well-being, helps them achieve these goals through effective pain self-management, and works with the interdisciplinary team to review progress and ensure that pain management plans are aligned with patient objectives and progress.