Senators Portman, Whitehouse, and Klobuchar Think They Know Better Than The CDC About How To Treat Acute Pain

This study came one year after a largerstudy of more than 568,000 “opioid‐​naïve” patients treated for acute postsurgical pain from 2008–2016 found a total “misuse” rate of 0.6 percent.The press report onCARA 2.0 issued by Senator Portman ’s office states the three‐​day limit is recommended by the CDC in its 2016Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain (recommendation number 6). But these guidelines were aimed at treatingchronic pain, and were based on what the CDC stipulated was very limited evidence. The CDC also emphasized the guidelines were meant to be suggestive, not prescriptive.Aware of the misinterpretation and misapplication of its 2016 guidelines, the CDC issued anAdvisory in April 2019. The Advisory stated:In addition, policies that mandate hard limits conflict with the guideline ’s emphasis on individualized assessment of the benefits and risks of opioids given the specific circumstances and unique needs of each patient.The CDC announced in December 2019 that itplans to update its guidelines, which have come under muchcriticism from many pain management and addiction treatment specialists, alongwith theAmerican Medical Association.In a June 2020letter to the CDC on behalf of the AMA, James L. Madara, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the AMA stated:As a starting point, the AMA points to the well ‐​received recommendation from the U.S. Health and Human Services Pain Management Best ...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 16, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs