HLS 16RS-5113 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 226
BY REPRESENTATIVE GARY CARTER
SPECIAL DAY/WEEK/MONTH: Designates the month of September 2016 as Pain
Awareness Month in Louisiana
1 A RESOLUTION
2To designate the month of September 2016 as Pain Awareness Month in Louisiana.
3 WHEREAS, over one hundred million American adults suffer from chronic pain,
4including millions with debilitating conditions such as chronic lower back pain,
5fibromyalgia, and arthritis; and
6 WHEREAS, chronic pain costs America up to six hundred thirty-five billion dollars
7a year in added health costs and lost productivity, including billions of dollars in Medicaid
8costs; and
9 WHEREAS, chronic pain is a major public health problem and a hidden driver of
10rising health care costs; and
11 WHEREAS, significant barriers to adequate pain care exist, including regulatory,
12legal, institutional, financial, and geographical barriers, and as a result, millions of
13Americans settle for inadequate pain care; and
14 WHEREAS, pain and pain treatment represent a national challenge, and cultural
15modifications are needed to better prevent, assess, treat, and understand pain of all types; and
16 WHEREAS, the findings regarding chronic pain were made by the Institute of
17Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in its landmark report issued in 2011,
18"Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and
19Research"; and
20 WHEREAS, this report included a number of recommendations to improve pain care,
21education, and research; and
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HR NO. 226
1 WHEREAS, this report found that significant savings could be achieved through
2better treatment of acute pain, such as a reduction in workers' compensation costs, an end
3to significant lost tax revenues, and a reduced burden of the societal costs of opioid abuse
4and misuse; and
5 WHEREAS, the report recommended that a comprehensive plan should be developed
6that would heighten awareness about pain and its health consequences, emphasize the
7prevention of pain, improve the assessment of pain and plans for management of that pain,
8use public health strategies to educate the public, and address the disparities in the
9experience of pain among Americans; and
10 WHEREAS, by designating a Pain Awareness Month in the state, the Louisiana
11House of Representatives is taking a positive step in heightening awareness of pain,
12particularly chronic pain, and its health consequences; and
13 WHEREAS, chronic pain is a serious health problem and the appropriate agencies
14of state government should examine ways state agencies could improve the health and
15productivity of its citizens and reduce personal and government health care expenditures by
16implementing the recommendations of the report issued by the Institute of Medicine.
17 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
18Legislature of Louisiana does hereby recognize the month of September 2016 as Pain
19Awareness Month in Louisiana.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 226 Original 2016 Regular Session Gary Carter
Designates the month of September 2016 as Pain Awareness Month in La.
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