I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5718 
To provide for a technical expert panel to provide recommendations on reduc-
ing opioid use in the surgical setting and on best practices for pain 
management, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 9, 2018 
Mr. SMITH of Missouri (for himself and Mr. HIGGINS of New York) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for a technical expert panel to provide rec-
ommendations on reducing opioid use in the surgical 
setting and on best practices for pain management, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Perioperative Reduc-
tion of Opioids Act’’ or the ‘‘PRO Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. TECHNICAL EXPERT PANEL ON REDUCING SUR-
GICAL SETTING OPIOID USE; DATA COLLEC-
TION ON PERIOPERATIVE OPIOID USE. 
(a) TECHNICAL EXPERT PANEL ON REDUCING SUR-
GICAL SETTING OPIOID USE.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services shall convene 
a technical expert panel, including medical and sur-
gical specialty societies, to provide recommendations 
on reducing opioid use in the inpatient and out-
patient surgical settings and on best practices for 
pain management, including with respect to the fol-
lowing: 
(A) Approaches that limit patient exposure 
to opioids during the perioperative period, in-
cluding pre-surgical and post-surgical injec-
tions. 
(B) Shared decisionmaking with patients 
and families on pain management, including 
recommendations for the development of an 
evaluation and management code for purposes 
of payment under the Medicare program under 
title XVIII of the Social Security Act that 
would account for time spent on shared deci-
sionmaking. 
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(C) Education on the safe use, storage, 
and disposal of opioids. 
(D) Prevention of opioid misuse and abuse 
after discharge. 
(E) Development of a clinical algorithm to 
treat opiate tolerant patients and reduce reli-
ance on opiates for acute pain during the 
perioperative period. 
(2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall submit to Congress and make public a report 
containing the recommendations developed under 
paragraph (1) and recommendations for broader im-
plementation of pain management protocols that 
limit the use of opioids in the perioperative setting 
and upon discharge from such setting. 
(b) DATA COLLECTION ON PERIOPERATIVE OPIOID 
USE.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall submit to Congress a report that contains 
the following: 
(1) The diagnosis-related group codes identified 
by the Secretary as having the highest volume of 
surgeries. 
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(2) With respect to each of such diagnosis-re-
lated group codes so identified, a determination by 
the Secretary of the data that is both available and 
reported on opioid use following such surgeries, such 
as with respect to— 
(A) surgical volumes, practices, and opioid 
prescribing patterns; 
(B) opioid consumption, including— 
(i) perioperative days of therapy; 
(ii) average daily dose at hospital, in-
cluding high dosage greater than 90 milli-
gram morphine equivalent; 
(iii) post-discharge prescriptions and 
other combination drugs that are used be-
fore intervention and after intervention; 
(iv) quantity and duration of opioid 
prescription at discharge; and 
(v) quantity consumed and number of 
refills; 
(C) regional anesthesia and analgesia prac-
tices, including pre-surgical and post-surgical 
injections; 
(D) naloxone reversal; 
(E) post-operative respiratory failure; 
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(F) information about storage and dis-
posal; and 
(G) such other information as the Sec-
retary may specify. 
(3) Recommendations for improving data collec-
tion on perioperative opioid use, including an anal-
ysis to identify barriers to collecting, reporting, and 
analyzing the data described in paragraph (2), in-
cluding barriers related to technological availability. 
Æ 
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