A leading lawmaker is intensifying his scrutiny of the financial ties between opioid makers, advocacy groups, and government panels that provide advice on the controversial and lucrative business of managing patient pain.
In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the agency to review various conflicts of interest among some members of the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force, which was created two years ago to make recommendations for combating chronic and acute pain. Those directives may affect Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
Specifically, Wyden maintained that 15 of the 21 task force members are subject to reporting requirements for a federal database to which companies must submit payment information. And 10 of those 15 members received payments totaling nearly $180,000 from drug makers, including companies that sell opioids, between 2013 and 2017.
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