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

Sponsor: Susan Brooks (R-IN)

(Sec. 1) This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to convene a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force to: (1) review, modify, and update best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication; and (2) examine and identify the need for, development of, and availability of medical alternatives to opioids (drugs with effects similar to opium, such as certain pain medications). The task force must submit a report that includes: (1) the modified and updated best practices; (2) a strategy for disseminating the best practices; (3) the feasibility of linking the best practices to Drug Enforcement Administration registration of manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers of controlled substances; (4) recommendations for effectively applying the best practices at medical facilities; and (5) recommendations regarding medical alternatives to opioids.

Health Topic assigned by the Congressional Research Service.