The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Management Best Practices Task Force recently wrote a report titled “Draft Report on Pain Management Best Practices: Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations.” This report is open for public comment until Monday, April 1st, 2019.
The Good News: In this draft report, the Task Force very strongly recommends a multidisciplinary approach to pain management, including Complementary and Integrative Health, behavioral health/psychological interventions, as well as restorative movement therapies. This document more clearly and positively includes many types of integrative health providers than any report previously published.
The Bad News: We are aware that those who are not supportive of integrative approaches and providers are submitting comments arguing for a continued reliance on pharmacological approaches to pain.
How you are needed now: This report represents a quantum leap in HHS pain policy, and as an integrative healer or practitioner, it is imperative that you, and as many of us in the Integrative Health community as possible, respond positively to the call for public comment.
What this means: The Integrative Health Community needs to submit as many positive comments as possible before the April 1st deadline. It would be ideal if we could send in thousands of comments.
Please help – the primary content and emphasis of our comments needs to be positive! It is important that the integrative community affirm and supports this report. It represents important progress. There are ways that the draft report could be enhanced; you are welcome to also note these succinctly, in addition to your strong support. Numerous integrative health organizations have submitted suggestions to enhance the HHS document—for this call HHS needs to see that there is solid public support for their approach.
Submit a comment through the online portal here: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=HHS-OS-2018-0027-0001&fbclid=IwAR2js6xRNqicF0OydWSw3YacapUCFkg-Hie3TIlmXmeN3mhNo5WH2wivedg.
