Changes to Pain Care on the Way

Several provisions from the National Pain Care Policy Act, legislation written to improve pain care in America for the more than 76.5 million Americans affected by pain, are included in the Health Care Reform Bill that recently passed.

The provisions from the 2009 Act include:

- Mandating an Institute of Medicine conference on pain to address key medical and policy issues affecting the delivery of quality pain care.

- Establishing a training program to improve the skills of health care professionals to assess and treat pain.

- Enhancing the pain research agenda for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In 2009, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members voted unanimously to include the National Pain Care Policy Act 2009 as an amendment to the National Health Care Reform Bill.

The American Pain Foundation’s volunteer grassroots Action Network has been actively engaged in supporting the National Pain Care Policy Act through meetings with elected officials, letter-writing campaigns, community outreach and social networking.

For more information, go to http://www.painfoundation.org.