Major Report Describes Strategies for Preventing and Relieving Pain

Institute of Medicine

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report "Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research" last week. The report was requested by the Department of Health and Human Services as required by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which characterized pain as a major public-health problem.

According to the IOM, chronic pain affects an estimated 116 million U.S. adults, more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined, and costs the nation up to $635 billion annually in medical treatment and lost productivity. The 329-page report may be downloaded free at http://www.iom.edu/. 

Read extensive coverage about the diversion and abuse of opioid pain-control medications in Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10/34.1.full
and http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10/1.1.full.