The Strengths and Weaknesses of Current US Policy to Address Pain

Pain is a significant public health problem that needs policy at the national and local level to resolve incidents of insufficient, ineffective, and disparate pain treatment while limiting the risk of inadvertently increasing the use of treatment such as opioids that can result in public harm.The National Pain Strategy serves as the first comprehensive approach to address pain and provides a roadmap with substantial broad and specific policy implications. Although much has been accomplished to date, transitions in political power, available data and funding, and the current opioid epidemic continue to have an impact on implementation of the National Pain Strategy.A sustained, coordinated effort with multipronged policies in many forms on both federal and state levels via regulations, laws, and guidelines is warranted. However, research is needed to evaluate the impact and potential unintended consequences of increased legislation and regulation. Nevertheless, policy related to the management of pain may provide the path to new treatments and models of care to reduce the impact of pain as a public health crisis in this country.