House Appropriations Committee Supports IHPC Priorities
The Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC) praises the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee for including language in two recent reports accompanying the Fiscal Year 2021 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations and the Fiscal Year 2021 Military Constructions, Veterans Affairs Appropriations bills addressing priorities of the integrative health care community.
Specifically, reports accompanying these essential annual funding bills include language urging:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to widely disseminate and to create a strategic plan to implement recommendations in the HHS Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report; and,
- The Veterans Affairs Administration to support and expand the Whole Health System of Care (WHS) program.
The language, as it appeared in both reports, is listed below.
IHPC is very grateful to the co-chairs of the Congressional Health and Wellness Caucus, Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-IN), and to Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) for their leadership and for championing the inclusion of these provisions in both appropriations reports.
IHPC looks forward to working with Congress and the Administration to achieve the ambitious goals articulated in both reports.
LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2021 (click for full Bill)
Chronic Pain.—The Committee remains concerned about the public health epidemic of acute and chronic pain, including its interrelationship with the opioid crisis. The Committee is pleased with the release of the HHS Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report in May 2019, but remains concerned over delayed dissemination and implementation of the Report’s recommendations. A strategic plan to disseminate the report and implement recommendations is needed, and the Committee strongly encourages the Department to widely disseminate the Report to health care providers and other public health stakeholders, and to update relevant pain management policies and educational tools to reflect Task Force recommended best practices across all relevant HHS agencies, including the CDC, CMS, SAMHSA and other relevant agencies. The Committee also urges the Department to coordinate with the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to launch a public awareness campaign to educate Americans about acute and chronic pain and the evidence based non-opioid treatment options that are available, including non-opioid medications; interventional procedures such as nerve blocks, injections and surgical devices; behavioral health approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy; and complementary and integrative health therapies such as massage therapy and acupuncture. (page 204)
Continued Support and Expansion for Whole Heath.—As of October 2017, 18 VA medical centers have received funding to implement the Whole Health System of Care (WHS). WHS, a three-year pilot program, meets the intent of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act by delivering patient-centered care and complementary and integrative health approaches to our nation’s Veterans especially those who are struggling with opioid use disorder and chronic pain. In January 2020, VA released an evaluation of the WHS, which concluded: (1) the program had a positive impact on reducing opioid use among Veterans; (2) Veterans who used WHS, compared to those who did not, experienced greater improvements in perceived stress indicating improvements in overall wellbeing; and (3) comprehensive WHS service revealed potential savings in pharmacy costs. The Committee is pleased by the results of this evaluation and urges VA to continue supporting the WHS and to expand it beyond the 18 flagship sites in fiscal year 2021. (page 65)
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