I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2994 
To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to pain care. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 11, 2007 
Mrs. CAPPS (for herself and Mr. ROGERS of Michigan) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to 
pain care. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Institute of medicine conference on pain. 
Sec. 4. Pain consortium at national institutes of health. 
Sec. 5. Pain care education and training. 
Sec. 6. Public awareness campaign on pain management. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) pain is the most common reason Americans 
access the health care system and is a leading con-
tributor to health care costs; 
(2) most painful conditions can be relieved with 
proper treatment, and providing adequate pain man-
agement is a crucial component of improving and 
maintaining quality of life for patients, survivors, 
and their loved ones; 
(3) pain is a leading cause of lost productivity, 
temporary disability, and permanent disability in the 
American workforce; 
(4) pain affects Americans across all ages, in-
cluding children. It can occur at any stage of dis-
ease, affecting patients in active treatment, survivors 
who have completed treatment, and those at the end 
of life; 
(5) in some cases pain is the disease itself and 
in others it is caused by or related to other diseases 
and conditions; 
(6) either acute or chronic pain may accompany 
other health conditions that are prevalent in the 
Medicare and Medicaid populations, including can-
cer, arthritis, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease; 
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(7) 
pain 
is 
often 
improperly 
assessed, 
misdiagnosed, mistreated, or undertreated; 
(8) disparities in the assessment, diagnosis, and 
treatment of pain across racial and ethnic groups, 
particularly at the end of life, are well documented; 
(9) pain research funding represents less than 
2 percent of the annual research expenditures of the 
National Institutes of Health; 
(10) pain research needs better planning and 
coordination across the many institutes, centers, and 
programs of the National Institutes of Health; 
(11) many health care professionals are inad-
equately trained in the proper assessment, diagnosis, 
treatment, and management of pain; 
(12) patients in pain face significant barriers 
that can prevent proper assessment, diagnosis, treat-
ment, and management of their pain; and 
(13) improving pain care research, education, 
access, and care are national health care priorities of 
the United States. 
SEC. 3. INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE CONFERENCE ON PAIN. 
(a) CONVENING.—Not later than June 30, 2008, the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall seek to 
enter an agreement with the Institute of Medicine of the 
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National Academies to convene a Conference on Pain (in 
this section referred to as ‘‘the Conference’’). 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Conference 
shall be to— 
(1) increase the recognition of pain as a signifi-
cant public health problem in the United States; 
(2) evaluate the adequacy of assessment, diag-
nosis, treatment, and management of acute and 
chronic pain in the general population, and in identi-
fied racial, ethnic, gender, age, and other demo-
graphic groups that may be disproportionately af-
fected by inadequacies in the assessment, diagnosis, 
treatment, and management of pain; 
(3) identify barriers to appropriate pain care, 
including— 
(A) lack of understanding and education 
among employers, patients, health care pro-
viders, regulators, and third-party payors; 
(B) barriers to access to care at the pri-
mary, specialty, and tertiary care levels, includ-
ing barriers— 
(i) specific to those populations that 
are disproportionately undertreated for 
pain; 
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(ii) related to physician concerns over 
regulatory and law enforcement policies 
applicable to some pain therapies; and 
(iii) attributable to benefit, coverage, 
and payment policies in both the public 
and private sectors; and 
(C) gaps in basic and clinical research on 
the symptoms and causes of pain, and potential 
assessment methods and new treatments to im-
prove pain care; and 
(4) establish an agenda for action in both the 
public and private sectors that will reduce such bar-
riers and significantly improve the state of pain care 
research, education, and clinical care in the United 
States. 
(c) OTHER APPROPRIATE ENTITY.—If the Institute 
of Medicine declines to enter into an agreement under sub-
section (a), the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
may enter into such agreement with another appropriate 
entity. 
(d) REPORT.—A report summarizing the Con-
ference’s findings and recommendations shall be sub-
mitted to the Congress not later than June 30, 2009. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 
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to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for fis-
cal years 2008 and 2009. 
SEC. 4. PAIN CONSORTIUM AT NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 
HEALTH. 
Section 401(c)(2) of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 281(c)(2)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub-
paragraph (C); and 
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(B) PAIN CONSORTIUM.— 
‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director 
of NIH shall establish within the Division 
an office to be known as the Pain Consor-
tium (referred to in this subparagraph as 
the ‘Consortium’). 
‘‘(ii) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the 
Consortium shall be to— 
‘‘(I) establish and maintain a na-
tional agenda for basic and clinical re-
search on the causes and effective 
treatments for pain; 
‘‘(II) coordinate and promote the 
pain research, research training, and 
other pain-related activities being car-
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ried out in and across the institutes, 
centers, and programs of the National 
Institutes of Health; 
‘‘(III) convene an annual con-
ference of prominent intramural and 
extramural experts in pain research, 
treatment, and management to assess 
and make recommendations with re-
spect to the pain research activities 
and programs of the National Insti-
tutes of Health; and 
‘‘(IV) take such other actions as 
may be appropriate with respect to re-
search on the causes and effective 
treatments for pain. 
‘‘(iii) REPRESENTATION
OF
INSTI-
TUTES.—The Consortium shall include the 
heads of the institutes, centers, and pro-
grams of the National Institutes of Health 
involved in pain research, as determined by 
the Director of NIH. 
‘‘(iv) CHAIR.—The Consortium shall 
be chaired by the Director of the National 
Institute of Neurological Disorders and 
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Stroke, and shall have such co-chairs as 
the Director of NIH shall determine. 
‘‘(v) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 
‘‘(I) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Di-
rector of NIH shall establish an advi-
sory committee to the Consortium to 
be known as the National Pain Care 
Research Advisory Committee (in this 
section referred to as the ‘Advisory 
Committee’). 
‘‘(II) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Advisory Committee shall be estab-
lished and maintained in accordance 
with the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix). 
‘‘(III) MEMBERSHIP.—The mem-
bers of the Advisory Committee shall 
consist of voting appointed members 
and nonvoting ex officio members as 
follows: 
‘‘(aa) The voting appointed 
members of the Advisory Com-
mittee shall be appointed by the 
Director of NIH and shall in-
clude representatives of the broad 
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range of medical, health, and sci-
entific disciplines involved in pain 
research and pain care, including 
individuals with expertise and 
training in pain medicine, pain 
management, neuroscience, psy-
chology, social work, pharmacy 
and pharmacology, nursing, den-
tistry, and physical and occupa-
tional therapy, and patient rep-
resentatives. 
‘‘(bb) The nonvoting ex offi-
cio members of the Advisory 
Committee shall be the Chair of 
the Consortium and such officials 
as the Director of NIH shall des-
ignate. 
‘‘(IV) DUTIES.—The Advisory 
Committee shall advise, assist, consult 
with, and make recommendations to 
the Consortium regarding the matters 
set forth in clause (ii).’’. 
SEC. 5. PAIN CARE EDUCATION AND TRAINING. 
(a) PAIN CARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY.—Part A 
of title IX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
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299 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 904. PROGRAM FOR PAIN CARE RESEARCH AND 
QUALITY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall carry out a 
program— 
‘‘(1) to collect protocols and evidence-based 
practices regarding pain care at all stages of life; 
and 
‘‘(2) to disseminate such information to Fed-
eral, State, and local regulatory and enforcement 
agencies, public and private health care programs, 
payors and providers, health professions schools, 
hospices, and the general public. 
‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, 
the Secretary shall consult with organizations representing 
patients in pain and other consumers, employers, physi-
cians including physicians specializing in pain care, other 
pain management professionals, medical device manufac-
turers, and pharmaceutical companies. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘pain care’ means the assessment, diagnosis, treat-
ment, or management of acute or chronic pain regardless 
of causation or body location.’’. 
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(b) EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN PAIN AND PALLIA-
TIVE CARE.—Part D of title VII of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating sections 754 through 758 
as sections 755 through 759, respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after section 753 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 754. PROGRAM FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN 
PAIN CARE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 
with the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research 
and Quality, may make awards of grants, cooperative 
agreements, and contracts to health professions schools, 
hospices, and other public and private entities for the de-
velopment and implementation of programs to provide 
education and training to health care professionals in pain 
care. 
‘‘(b) PRIORITIES.—In making awards under sub-
section (a), the Secretary shall give priority to awards for 
the implementation of programs under such subsection. 
‘‘(c) CERTAIN TOPICS.—An award may be made 
under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the award 
agrees that the program carried out with the award will 
include information and education on— 
‘‘(1) recognized means for assessing, diag-
nosing, treating, and managing pain and related 
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