ASAM Comments on National Pain Strategy

Last month, ASAM submitted comments to The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), about its recently released National Pain Strategy draft. NINDS is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the strategy draft was developed by the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC), a Federal advisory committee created by the Department of Health and Human Services to enhance pain research efforts and promote collaboration across the government, with the ultimate goals of advancing the fundamental understanding of pain and improving pain-related treatment strategies.

In its comments, ASAM lauded IPRCC for setting forth a strategy that endorses a population-based, biopsychosocial approach to pain care that is grounded in scientific evidence, integrated, multimodal and interdisciplinary. The strategy furthermore recognizes public health concerns that accompany the misuse or diversion of prescription opioid analgesics and calls for demonstrated competency of pain assessment, safe and effective pain care and the risks inherent in prescription analgesics as a requirement for licensure and certification of health professionals (see ASAM's training on managing pain with ER/LA opioids).

ASAM recognizes pain management as a critical component of high quality medical care. To date, a narrow focus in treatment modalities has not comprehensively addressed the burden of pain in the US, and treatment is relatively ineffective, often resulting in a worse quality of care and contributing to unnecessary health care costs.

The National Pain Strategy helps to address these needs and acknowledges how prescriber practices have contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed and a simultaneous increase in opioid-related substance abuse treatment admissions, including what the CDC has declared as an epidemic of opioid-involved overdose deaths. The strategy includes a public awareness campaign to promote safe medication use by all patients and to improve the public’s ability to understand and recognize addition. If achieved, the objectives outlined by the National Pain Strategy will help evidence-based pain management become the new standard of care.

To help promulgate the implementation of best practices, ASAM’s comments urge that IPRCC consider the addition of addiction and pain training into the standard medical school and residency programs. ASAM also encourages the inclusion of the impact of the population-based data to inform national policy for opioid use and monitoring, including but not limited to the comparative effectiveness of opioids versus other forms of treatment. ASAM looks forward to working with the IPRCC to collaborate on these issues. Stay tuned for updates about the implementation of the National Pain Strategy.