IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2994 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 25 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 
Received 
OCTOBER 2 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions 
AN ACT 
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, 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
04:16 Oct 03, 2008
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2994.RFS
H2994
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
HR 2994 RFS 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘National Pain Care Policy Act of 2008’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Institute of Medicine Conference on Pain. 
Sec. 3. Pain research at National Institutes of Health. 
Sec. 4. Pain care education and training. 
Sec. 5. Public awareness campaign on pain management. 
SEC. 2. INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE CONFERENCE ON PAIN. 
(a) CONVENING.—Not later than June 30, 2009, the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall seek to 
enter into an agreement with the Institute of Medicine of 
the 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; 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
04:16 Oct 03, 2008
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2994.RFS
H2994
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
HR 2994 RFS 
(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; 
(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 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
04:16 Oct 03, 2008
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2994.RFS
H2994
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
HR 2994 RFS 
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, 2010. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 
purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 
to be appropriated $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 
and 2010. 
SEC. 3. PAIN RESEARCH AT NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 
HEALTH. 
Part B of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 409J. PAIN RESEARCH. 
‘‘(a) RESEARCH INITIATIVES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH is en-
couraged to continue and expand, through the Pain 
Consortium, an aggressive program of basic and 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
04:16 Oct 03, 2008
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2994.RFS
H2994
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
HR 2994 RFS 
clinical research on the causes of and potential treat-
ments for pain. 
‘‘(2) ANNUAL
RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not less 
than annually, the Pain Consortium, in consultation 
with the Division of Program Coordination, Plan-
ning, and Strategic Initiatives, shall develop and 
submit to the Director of NIH recommendations on 
appropriate pain research initiatives that could be 
undertaken with funds reserved under section 
402A(c)(1) for the Common Fund or otherwise 
available for such initiatives. 
‘‘(3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘Pain Consortium’ means the Pain Consortium of 
the National Institutes of Health or a similar trans- 
National Institutes of Health coordinating entity 
designated by the Secretary for purposes of this sub-
section. 
‘‘(b) INTERAGENCY PAIN RESEARCH COORDINATING 
COMMITTEE.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this section and as necessary maintain 
a committee, to be known as the Interagency Pain 
Research Coordinating Committee (in this section 
referred to as the ‘Committee’), to coordinate all ef-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
04:16 Oct 03, 2008
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2994.RFS
H2994
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS