“A congressional committee has launched an investigation into efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop new guidelines for the prescribing of opioid pain medication. The controversial draft guidelines discourage primary care physicians from prescribing opioids for chronic pain. As many as 11 million Americans take opioids daily for long term, chronic pain.
In a letter to CDC director Thomas Frieden, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned whether the agency broke federal law by appointing a biased advisory panel and refusing to disclose the identities of its members. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) asked Frieden to supply documents and information about the guidelines process “as soon as possible.”
At issue is the “Core Expert Group,” a panel composed of 17 members, most of them health researchers, state regulators and addiction treatment specialists. Although the CDC never publicly disclosed who was on the panel, their identities were leaked to Pain News Network and other websites. Critics charged that some members had conflicts of interests and strong biases against opioids. No patients or active pain management physicians are on the panel.”
Read more at: http://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2015/12/21/congress-investigating-cdcs-opioid-guidelines
Source: PainNewsNetwork.org – December 22, 2015
See related article – My Story: Has the CDC Confused Addiction and Tolerance? available at: http://nationalpainreport.com/my-story-has-the-cdc-confused-addiction-and-tolerance-8828867.html
See related article – Response on CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines – Pain Patients Need to Be Heard available at:
http://nationalpainreport.com/response-on-cdc-opioid-prescribing-guidelines-pain-patients-need-to-be-heard-8828943.html
See related article – A Former Federal Peer Reviewer’s Analysis of the Draft CDC Guidelines available at:
http://nationalpainreport.com/a-former-federal-peer-reviewers-analysis-of-the-draft-cdc-guidelines-8828910.html
