The Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC) is a federal advisory committee created by the Department of Health and Human Services to enhance pain research efforts and promote collaboration across the government, with the ultimate goals of advancing fundamental understanding of pain and improving pain-related treatment strategies. The Committee roster will include seven Federal members and twelve non-Federal members, six drawn from the scientific and medical communities and six members of the public and stakeholder groups. The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary will review the necessity of the Committee at least once every 2 years.
As specified in Section 4305(b) of the Public Law 111-148 ("Affordable Care Act (ACA)") the Committee has been asked to:
- Develop a summary of advances in pain care research supported or conducted by the Federal agencies relevant to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pain and diseases and disorders associated with pain.
- Identify critical gaps in basic and clinical research on the symptoms and causes of pain.
- Make recommendations to ensure that the activities of the National Institutes of Health and other Federal agencies are free of unnecessary duplication of effort.
- Make recommendations on how best to disseminate information on pain care.
- Make recommendations on how to expand partnerships between public entities and private entities to expand collaborative, cross-cutting research.
