Pain care bill advances in Congress
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
National Pain Care Policy Act, a bill introduced by Reps. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich., passes in the House March 30 and is introduced in the Senate March 19 by Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The House and Senate versions (H.R. 756 and S. 660) are identical, and would authorize an Institute of Medicine conference on pain care, a pain consortium at the National Institutes of Health, and $5 million annually for pain care education of health professionals ("1The Gray Sheet" March 9, 2009, p. 10). Pain treatment device makers Medtronic and Boston Scientific are among those endorsing the legislation as a way to improve patient care