Kaine, Cramer, Kim, Daines Introduce Legislation to Support Chronic Pain Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act, bipartisan legislation that would supply clinicians and scientists with high-quality data to help advance research into chronic pain conditions impacting many Americans.

"Over 60 million Americans live with debilitating and often life-altering chronic pain conditions. We must provide researchers with the tools and resources they need to understand pain, enhance treatment, and improve the lives of all those struggling with chronic pain," said Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. "I'm proud to introduce this bipartisan bill to help provide much-needed relief to every person living with these conditions."

"Living with chronic pain shouldn't mean living without hope. Too many Americans have spent years searching for answers and trying inadequate treatments because of an information gap specific to chronic pain conditions. By strengthening research, especially for non-opioid solutions, and making it easier to share what's working, we can help doctors provide better care and give patients more effective treatment options," said Cramer.

"Better research and data means better health outcomes for the millions of Americans with chronic pain," said Kim. "This bipartisan bill not only gives those suffering the recognition they've long gone without but takes concrete steps toward the relief they deserve."

"Although tens of millions of Americans live with chronic pain, it is a disease that we don't fully understand. I'm proud to work with my Senate colleagues to provide the best data and tools for researching, treating, and providing relief for chronic pain so that those living with the disease can live better lives," said Daines.

Specifically, the Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act would:

• Direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to utilize available research data to clarify the prevalence and the characteristics of chronic pain.
• Identify gaps in currently available research data.
• Develop standard definitions for population research on chronic pain.
• Create a centralized Chronic Pain Information Hub to aggregate and summarize available data, maintain a summary of complete, ongoing, and planned research, and translate findings to recommendations for clinicians and scientists.

"For far too long, chronic pain has not been recognized or addressed in proportion to its enormous impact on individuals, families, and our nation," said Cindy Steinberg, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the U.S. Pain Foundation. "The Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act will give us the high-quality data needed to better understand pain, enhance treatment, and ultimately improve the lives of millions of Americans living with chronic pain. We are grateful to Senator Kaine for his leadership in advancing this critical effort."

"Aggressive opioid prescribing in the 1990s and 2000s, followed by a sharp policy reversal after the overdose crisis, left many chronic pain patients caught between undertreatment and abrupt loss of access-a swing driven in part by insufficient data to distinguish between different patient needs and risks," said Anika Richburg, Executive Director of the Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance (SAARA) of Virginia. "Legislation that builds robust chronic pain data infrastructure, coordinated with but distinct from addiction surveillance systems, can help prevent policy from lurching between these extremes again and ensure it is grounded in evidence rather than crisis response. SAARA of Virginia is proud to endorse Senator Kaine's proposed Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act, requiring standardized, ongoing collection and reporting of chronic pain data to health care officials."

The legislation is also supported by: AiArthritis, Alliance for Aging Research, Alliance for Gout Awareness, Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy, American Academy of Pain Medicine, American Association of Pain Psychology, American Chronic Pain Association, American Massage Therapy Association, American Occupational Therapy Association, American Physical Therapy Association, American Society for Pain Management Nursing, American Society of Nephrology, American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Association of Academic Physiatrists, Caregiver Action Network, Chronic Migraine Awareness, Chronic Pain Research Alliance, Clusterbusters, Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients, Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations, Danielle Byron Henry Migraine Foundation, Dysautonomia International, Endometriosis Association, Fibromyalgia Association, Fibromyalgia National Health Organization, For Grace: Women In Pain, Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, Gerontological Society of America, Gout Support Group of America, Headache and Migraine Policy Forum, HealthyWomen, Infusion Access Foundation, Institute for Natural Medicine, International Association for the Study of Pain, International Pelvic Pain Society, Interstitial Cystitis Association, Lupus and Allied Diseases Association, Inc., Lupus Foundation of America, Massachusetts Pain Initiative, MidWest Rheumatology Association, Miles for Migraine, National Headache Foundation, National Pain Advocacy Center, National Vulvodynia Association, Pain Collaborative to Advance Equitable Value-Based Solutions, Patients Rising, Protecting Access to Pain Relief (PAPR) Coalition, Richmond Academy of Medicine, SAARA of Virginia, Shatterproof, Sick Cells, Sjogren's Foundation, Spina Bifida Association, Spondylitis Association of America, T1D Exchange, The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy, The TMJ Association, Tight Lipped, the United States Association for the Study of Pain, and U.S. Pain Foundation.

Full text of the legislation is available here.

###