Opinion: HHS needs to step up so CDC’s new guidelines won’t be ‘a bridge to nowhere’ for most Americans living with chronic pain
To update its controversial 2016 guidelines for how to treat the millions of Americans living with chronic pain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been doing its homework. The agency has overseen a thorough review of the evidence and is still gathering input from clinicians, scientists, people with pain, and their families.
Unfortunately, the CDC’s enormous effort may turn out to be a bridge to nowhere for most Americans living with chronic pain. The final guidelines will likely recommend a comprehensive set of options to address pain, many of which will be available to only a few Americans. That’s why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should launch an equally ambitious effort to ensure that the CDC’s new guidelines are more than wishful thinking.
