The National Pain Strategy (NPS) is a nationwide plan to address the core recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report, Relieving Pain in America (PDF, 644 KB), on pain prevention, treatment, management, education, and research. The entity charged by HHS to address the IOM recommendations is the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC), which was established under the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act and, as such, is subject to rules and guidelines of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The IPRCC’s Task Force of experts, established to develop the NPS plan, also falls under the FACA rules and guidelines. The Task Force is organized into six thematic working groups and an oversight panel and comprises approximately 80 members, with broad representation and expertise in accord with the recommendations of the IOM committee. Screening and selection of the NPS Task Force members was a multi-step process, performed according to FACA's requirements. A call for nominations was made through distribution to advocacy groups, professional societies, website notification, and email distribution. It was published as a Federal Register Notice as well. Candidates were selected based on expertise and knowledge, and the overall Task Force representation fulfilled IOM recommendations. A working group of the IPRCC screened and approved the slate of working group members. Nominees were informed of the nature of conflicts of interests that would preclude their service and were required to disclose any potential conflicts and the nature of the conflicts. They were also required to disclose whether they were registered lobbyists, which precludes service under FACA. Conflict of interest disclosures were reviewed by the FACA Committee Management Officer and the IPRCC’s Designated Federal Officer. If potential conflicts were identified, the nominee’s conflict situation was reviewed by the NINDS Deputy Ethics Counselor to determine eligibility for service on the working group.
The working groups were advised of the needs and guidelines to protect the confidentiality of discussions to develop the NPS. Requests from all outside entities to present or provide unsolicited information to the working groups during the process were directed to the IPRCC’s Designated Federal Officer.