The nation’s ever growing chronic pain and opioid crises have been widely recognized since the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released their 2011 report, Relieving Pain in America. In response, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently called on NASEM to assemble a committee of experts “to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic.” For the last year, Mark Schumacher, MD, PhD, Professor and Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, has participated in this effort. As a result of their work, the Committee on Pain Management and Regulatory Strategies to Address Prescription Opioid Abuse released its consensus report in July of 2017. The report, “Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic: Balancing Societal and Individual Benefits and Risks of Prescription Opioid Use” is available to the public at the NASEM website. We’ve included the “Report Highlights,” below.
