IIB 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4641 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 12, 2016 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
To provide for the establishment of an inter-agency task 
force to review, modify, and update best practices for 
pain management and prescribing pain medication, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES FOR THE 
USE OF PRESCRIPTION OPIOIDS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services; and 
(2) the term ‘‘task force’’ means the Pain Man-
agement Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force 
convened under subsection (b). 
(b) INTER-AGENCY TASK FORCE.—Not later than 
December 14, 2018, the Secretary, in cooperation with the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Defense, 
and the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Adminis-
tration, shall convene a Pain Management Best Practices 
Inter-Agency Task Force to review, modify, and update, 
as appropriate, best practices for pain management (in-
cluding chronic and acute pain) and prescribing pain 
medication. 
(c) MEMBERSHIP.—The task force shall be comprised 
of— 
(1) representatives of— 
(A) the Department of Health and Human 
Services; 
(B) the Department of Veterans Affairs; 
(C) the Food and Drug Administration; 
(D) the Department of Defense; 
(E) the Drug Enforcement Administration; 
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(F) the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention; 
(G) the Health Resources and Services Ad-
ministration; 
(H) the Indian Health Service; 
(I) the National Academy of Medicine; 
(J) the National Institutes of Health; 
(K) the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy; 
(L) the Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration; and 
(M) the Office of Women’s Health; 
(2) State medical boards; 
(3) subject to subsection (e), physicians, den-
tists, and nonphysician prescribers; 
(4) hospitals; 
(5) subject to subsection (e), pharmacists and 
pharmacies; 
(6) first responders; 
(7) experts in the fields of pain research and 
addiction research; 
(8) experts in the fields of adolescent and young 
adult addiction research; 
(9) representatives of— 
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(A) pain management professional organi-
zations; 
(B) the mental health treatment commu-
nity; 
(C) the addiction treatment and recovery 
community; 
(D) pain advocacy groups; 
(E) veteran service organizations; and 
(F) groups with expertise on overdose re-
versal; 
(10) a person in recovery from addiction to 
medication for chronic pain; 
(11) a person in recovery from addiction to 
medication for chronic pain, whose addiction began 
in adolescence or young adulthood; 
(12) a person with chronic pain; 
(13) an expert on active duty military, armed 
forces personnel, and veteran health and prescription 
opioid addiction; 
(14) an expert in the field of minority health; 
and 
(15) other stakeholders, as the Secretary deter-
mines appropriate. 
(d) CONDITION
ON
PARTICIPATION
ON
TASK 
FORCE.—An individual representing a profession or entity 
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described in paragraph (3) or (5) of subsection (c) may 
not serve as a member of the task force unless such indi-
vidual— 
(1) is currently licensed in a State in which 
such individual is practicing (as defined by such 
State) such profession (or, in the case of an indi-
vidual representing an entity, a State in which the 
entity is engaged in business); and 
(2) is currently practicing (as defined by such 
State) such profession (or, in the case of an indi-
vidual representing an entity, the entity is in oper-
ation). 
(e) DUTIES.—The task force shall— 
(1) not later than 180 days after the date on 
which the task force is convened under subsection 
(b), review, modify, and update, as appropriate, best 
practices for pain management (including chronic 
and acute pain) and prescribing pain medication, 
taking into consideration— 
(A) existing pain management research; 
(B) research on trends in areas and com-
munities in which the prescription opioid abuse 
rate and fatality rate exceed the national aver-
age prescription opioid abuse rate and fatality 
rate; 
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(C) recommendations from relevant con-
ferences and existing relevant evidence-based 
guidelines; 
(D) ongoing efforts at the State and local 
levels and by medical professional organizations 
to develop improved pain management strate-
gies, including consideration of differences with-
in and between classes of opioids, the avail-
ability of opioids with abuse deterrent tech-
nology, 
and 
pharmacological, 
nonpharma-
cological, medical device alternatives to opioids 
to reduce opioid monotherapy in appropriate 
cases and the coordination of information col-
lected from State prescription drug monitoring 
programs for the purpose of preventing the di-
version of pain medication; 
(E) ongoing efforts at the Federal, State, 
and local levels to examine the potential bene-
fits of electronic prescribing of opioids, includ-
ing any public comments collected in the course 
of those efforts; 
(F) the management of high-risk popu-
lations, other than populations who suffer pain, 
who— 
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(i) 
may 
use 
or 
be 
prescribed 
benzodiazepines, 
alcohol, 
and 
diverted 
opioids; or 
(ii) receive opioids in the course of 
medical care; 
(G) the distinct needs of adolescents and 
young adults with respect to pain management, 
pain medication, substance use disorder, and 
medication-assisted treatment; 
(H) the 2016 Guideline for Prescribing 
Opioids for Chronic Pain issued by the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention; 
(I) the practice of co-prescribing naloxone 
for both pain patients receiving chronic opioid 
therapy and patients being treated for opioid 
use disorders; 
(J) research that has been, or is being, 
conducted or supported by the Federal Govern-
ment on prevention of, treatment for, and re-
covery from substance use by and substance use 
disorders among adolescents and young adults 
relative to any unique circumstances (including 
social and biological circumstances) of adoles-
cents and young adults that may make adoles-
cent-specific and young adult-specific treatment 
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protocols necessary, including any effects that 
substance use and substance use disorders may 
have on brain development and the implications 
for treatment and recovery; 
(K) Federal non-research programs and 
activities that address prevention of, treatment 
for, and recovery from substance use by and 
substance use disorders among adolescents and 
young adults, including an assessment of the ef-
fectiveness of such programs and activities in— 
(i) preventing substance use by and 
substance use disorders among adolescents 
and young adults; 
(ii) treating such adolescents and 
young adults in a way that accounts for 
any unique circumstances faced by adoles-
cents and young adults; and 
(iii) supporting long-term recovery 
among adolescents and young adults; and 
(L) gaps that have been identified by Fed-
eral officials and experts in Federal efforts re-
lating to prevention of, treatment for, and re-
covery from substance use by and substance use 
disorders among adolescents and young adults, 
including gaps in research, data collection, and 
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measures to evaluate the effectiveness of Fed-
eral efforts, and the reasons for such gaps; 
(2) solicit and take into consideration public 
comment on the practices developed under para-
graph (1), amending such best practices if appro-
priate; 
(3) develop a strategy for disseminating infor-
mation about the best practices developed under 
paragraphs (1) and (2) to prescribers, pharmacists, 
State medical boards, educational institutions that 
educate prescribers and pharmacists, and other par-
ties, as the Secretary determines appropriate; 
(4) review, modify, and update best practices 
for pain management and prescribing pain medica-
tion, specifically as it pertains to physician education 
and consumer education; and 
(5) examine and identify— 
(A) the extent of the need for the develop-
ment of new pharmacological, nonpharma-
cological, and medical device alternatives to 
opioids; 
(B) the current status of research efforts 
to develop such alternatives; and 
(C) 
the 
pharmacological, 
nonpharma-
cological, and medical device alternatives to 
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