Approximately 5,400 individuals and organizations responded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s call for public comment on acute and chronic pain management and whether the CDC should update and expand its 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. Cindy Steinberg, National Director of Policy and Advocacy, submitted a five-page comment on behalf of the U.S. Pain Foundation, which you can read here.

“In our comment, we encourage the CDC to review and incorporate findings from the Pain Management Best Practices Interagency Task Force report, which calls for an individualized, multidisciplinary and integrated model of pain care,” says Steinberg. “We also urged the CDC to revise its 2016 Guideline, and this time include pain patients and nationally respected pain management physicians and advocates in the expert group tasked with drafting the revision and update.”

Of note, the American Medical Association also suggested the CDC revise the guidelines in its comment.

For those who are interested, the CDC is hosting a virtual meeting about pain care on July 22. It is open to the public, and individuals may sign up to provide comments. To register, click here.