This bill, the NOPAIN for Veterans Act, changes Title 38 of the U.S. Code so the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must add certain non-opioid pain medications and biological products to its national formulary and to its drug standardization list. The bill defines a "non-opioid pain management drug or biological product" as an FDA-approved product that reduces postoperative pain or provides postsurgical or regional analgesia without acting on opioid receptors. The VA must add such products to its formulary within one year after the product becomes eligible for certain Medicare/Medicaid temporary or separate payment rules. The bill also says the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund cannot be used to carry out these changes. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs must implement the amendments within 90 days after the bill becomes law.
If you get medicines through VA, this bill would require the VA to include certain FDA-approved non-opioid postoperative pain drugs on its national formulary and drug lists. The VA would have up to one year after a product becomes eligible for specified payment rules to add it. The VA must start implementing the changes within 90 days after the law is enacted.
No publicly available information on estimated costs or funding amounts is included in the bill text. The bill explicitly bars using funds from the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund to carry out these amendments.
The bill’s stated purpose is to ensure that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs furnishes certain non-opioid pain medications to veterans by adding them to the VA national formulary and drug standardization list.
No publicly available information.