Last call for comment on pain management report

There are only a couples of days left to submit your comment on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) pain management task force’s draft report, Pain Management Best Practices: Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations. The comment period is open until the end of the day tomorrow.  

The report highlights gaps or inconsistencies in current pain management care and proposes new best practices and recommendation for pain management, both chronic and acute pain as required by the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA), as Integrative Practitioner previously reported.

Integrative and complementary medicine have a strong presence in the preliminary recommendations, which suggests balanced pain management based on a biopsychosocial model of care, and an individualized patient-centered approach.

However, several comments are being submitted arguing for a continued reliance on pharmacological approaches to pain. Several organizations, including the Integrative Health Policy Consortium, the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health, are encouraging as many members of the integrative healthcare community as possible to provide comments to the task force, which will be recorded in the Federal Registry.

The groups have circulated a call to action reminding integrative practitioners to submit your comment. Your voice matters in ensuring the recommendations continue to include patient-centered, whole-person integrative pain management care.  

Do your part—click here to submit your comment as soon as possible. The comment period ends March 28, 2019.