Advocacy
HHS Creates New Pain Management Best Practices Interagency Task Force
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it has formed a new Pain Management Best Practices Interagency Task Force. The group has 28 appointees and will hold its first meeting on May 13 in Washington, DC.
The task force was established to propose updates to best practices and issue recommendations that address gaps or inconsistencies for managing chronic and acute pain. HHS is overseeing the initiative with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense.
The task force is charged with
- determining whether there are gaps or inconsistencies in pain management best practices among federal agencies
- proposing updates to best practices and recommendations on addressing gaps or inconsistencies
- providing the public with an opportunity to comment on any proposed updates and recommendations
- developing a strategy for disseminating information about best practices.
The task force will be chaired by Vanila M. Singh, MD, chief medical officer, HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Members include representatives from relevant HHS agencies, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Nonfederal representatives include experts in pain management, pain advocacy, addiction, recovery, substance use disorders, mental health, minority health, and more. Members also will include patients, representatives from veteran service organizations, the addiction treatment community, and groups with expertise in overdose reversal, including first responders, medical boards, and hospitals.
Current APS members appointed to the task force are Sondra M. Adkinson, PharmD CPE; Daniel Clauw, MD; and Rollin M. Gallagher, MD MPH.
Congress Moving Fast on Opioid Legislation
Both houses of Congress have moved from the hearing stage to the legislative stage on a plethora of bills intended to address the opioid crisis. The Senate HELP Committee voted S 2680, The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 (OCRA), out of full committee on April 24, with provisions the Pain Care Coalition and APS have been tracking. HELP Committee Chair Senator Lamar Alexander commented he would work with the majority leader to coordinate the HELP Committee’s legislation with what he expects will be additional opioid-related bills submitted by the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees in coming weeks.
S 2680 is the result of seven bipartisan hearings on the opioids crisis. The bill authorizes the NIH to approve high-impact projects that address the opioids crisis more quickly and efficiently, including finding a new, nonaddictive pain medication. It also assigns numerous tasks, ranging from opioid packaging changes to substance abuse counseling to opioid prescribing limits for the Food and Drug Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Centers for Disease Control, Drug Enforcement Agency, and other agencies.
On April 27, during a marathon mark-up session, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved 56 opioid-related bills, moving them for full committee consideration. Though approved, many of these bills are still works in progress, and what the full committee takes up will likely be altered in many respects before getting to the House floor later this year. Many items do not have bill numbers, meaning the subcommittee voted to advance a discussion draft of bills not yet introduced in the House. And others with bill numbers moved forward with a commitment from the chair to keep working on improvements to satisfy concerns of some members.
None of the bills that would have established mandatory prescribing limits are in the mix at this point.
Joint Commission Proposes New Pain Standards
On April 17, The Joint Commission proposed new standards for pain assessment and management in ambulatory settings and for office-based surgery. They are designed to make safe opioid prescribing an organizational priority to ensure minimal risks are associated with pain treatment.
The proposed changes include
- Facilitate practitioner and pharmacist access to prescription drug monitoring databases.
- Designate a leader or group to develop standardized practices for prescribing opioids and nonopioids.
- Develop individualized pain treatment plans for patients and educate patients and families about them.
- Monitor the use of opioid and nonopioid medications to determine if they are being prescribed safely.