H.R. 2994 would amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to pain care.
Detailed Summary
National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter an agreement with the Institute of Medicine to convene a Conference on Pain to: (1) increase the recognition of pain as a significant public health problem; (2) evaluate the adequacy of assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of acute and chronic pain; (3) identify barriers to appropriate pain care; and (4) establish an agenda for action that will reduce such barriers and improve pain care research, education, and clinical care.
Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the Pain Consortium to: (1) establish a national agenda for research on the causes and effective treatments for pain; and (2) convene an annual conference of experts in pain research, treatment, and management to assess and make recommendations on NIH pain research activities and programs. Requires the Director of NIH to establish the National Pain Care Research Advisory Committee.
Requires the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to: (1) collect protocols and evidence-based practices regarding pain care at all stages of life; and (2) disseminate such information to regulatory and enforcement agencies, health care programs, payor and providers, health professions schools, hospices, and the general public.
Allows the Secretary to provide for the development and implementation of programs to educate and train health care professionals in pain care.
Requires the Secretary to establish a national pain care education outreach and awareness campaign.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 7/11/2007: Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Points in Favor
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Points Against
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Visitor Comments
kathy
i am speaking for my son 40 year old male . who has thorasic spinal pain from a work injury. who has after many doctors all of boston ma. stature. has diagnosed the only help is medication for him. a very popular medicstion, and is very helpful to him. he has finally got a quality of life back they never thought he would. thanks to the pain medication. we have him around as much as he can. please keep this going in pain management it is a good thing. those who have pain use it for their benefit. and their pain so they have a quality of life they wouldnt have without it. it works for those who take them the right way. and keep it up. there is no addiction with them. just help, those in pain use it correctly. do not make them suffer because of the druggies out there who abuse this.
thank you.
Barbara
I am the silent face of the chronic pain patient. Do you vaguely remember me and wondered why I cried? My desperation to stop the pain almost ended that day last year. I had lost my hope and my will. Almost.
I am everyone who has ever battled and suffered through chronic pain. We deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and to have all the right questions asked or answered. We deserve the best treatment and therapy that medicine has to offer without judgment and denial. The needless suffering of the pain patients in the US is a national disgrace.
Tomorrow I wil be the voice of the chronic pelvic pain patient. I will listen, I will educate, I will ask and I will use reason and patience. But I will not be bullied or brushed off and if I have to, I will demand. Invite me to speak of my experience and I will gladly accept. From this moment on, I will no longer be the silent face of the chronic pain patient. I will be heard. And I vote.