Advocacy
Pain Care Coalition
APS, AAPM, and the American Association for the Study of Headache formally organized the Pain Care Coalition (PCC) in June 1998. The mission of the PCC is to work to influence federal healthcare policy via legislative, regulatory, and research avenues on behalf of people with pain by addressing quality-of-care and access-to-care issues. The PCC has taken active positions on a number of legislative and regulatory activities:
opposition to the 1998 Hyde-Nickles bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act
support for awarding to a pain center at least one National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research 5-year “P60” grant
creation of a key-contacts program through members of the three organizations
support for inclusion of severe pain in the Patient’s Bill of Rights section on access to emergency care for Medicare patients
comment on the Health Care Financing Administration ambulatory surgery center proposed rule
participation in the Wyden End-of-Life Care study group
The PCC Steering Committee includes two members and the executive director of each of the three component organizations, and it is currently creating guidelines for new members. Legislative and regulatory monitoring and advocacy is coordinated by Robert Saner of Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville, PC, a law firm based in Washington, DC.
Weekly Washington Wire On Health Care Issues
Subscribe to the Weekly Washington Wire on Health Care Issues, an e-mail and web-published newsletter reporting highlights of important federal developments in health law and public policy. Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville, PC, Washington counsel to the Pain Care Coalition, monitors federal legislative and regulatory activity and provides a summary of the status of current legislative initiatives in each issue.
View the most recent issues of the Weekly Washington Wire:
http://www.ppsv.com/news-newsletters-archive.html